17 In it (the Gospel) the righteousness of God is being disclosed by faith into faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
This is the McCord version. I like the use of the word "into".
Friday, January 30, 2009
Romans 1
4 who was declared (H)the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
What really identified Jesus as the Son of God? The fact that he not only told people he could rise from death, like so many other Messiah-wanna-bes during those time, he actually rose to live on Earth for 40 days & then never died again (unlike say, Lazarus) as He went to Heaven with God. The miracles were nice but you have to know that each of those 12 Apostles along with other disciples were waiting to authenticate Jesus as Savior & Messiah with his conquering over death. He was the real deal.
6among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
Want a purpose driven life? You are called to be “of Jesus Christ”. If you are a Christian, you should not be ever depressed about your life because you have a Way about your life, Jesus. We are not the last kid picked for kickball. We are the captains picked to make the teams. God does not choose talented people. God gives talent to those He chooses.
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
This should tell us a lot about the Christians in Rome. They didn’t even yet have the presence of direct teaching from the Apostles but yet they were growing strong off of the evangelism that undoubtedly spread to Rome. This tells me that the Christians that evangelized in Rome were passionate themselves and that it rubbed off on those new Christians. So much so, that regions from far away knew of how great their “working” faith was.
11For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;
11Porque anhelo veros para impartiros algún don espiritual, a fin de que seáis confirmados;
Spanish does a good job of using the word “confirmed” instead of “established”
How did spiritual gifts confirm them? I think in the same way that the Apostles words were confirmed to be from Christ (Mark 16:14-20). As I mentioned before, they had not received direct teaching from Apostles so in order for them to be able to know that they were following sound teaching, a gift of some sort would be given to them. We have no clue what it would be.
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
THIS ATTITUDE SHOULD BE OUR ATTITUDE!
Guys, why did Paul get to accomplish so much with so many & we’re still struggling to keep ourselves in line? Why did Paul face such strict punishment and rebuke and yet never stop teaching? Why did he stand up to the elite in government (Felix & Agrippa) & the society (idol makers in Ephesus)? How could someone reject a promising career in Judaism to be trashed by his own people?
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel! He knew what it was like to “know whole-heartedly” that you are right with God (locking up Christians & holding the coats of those who stoned Stephen) and be oh so wrong. When Jesus appeared to him on that road to Damascus, Saul’s mind must have gone mad. Everything Jesus told him was the opposite of what Saul thought & lived. Then Jesus, explaining all about his life, death, resurrection, and ascension (the four parts of the Gospel), gave this low life a chance at the elite life of a Christian. The life that had God’s approval. The life that really meant you could live forever. The life that proved that what is here on Earth ain’t nothing compared to what is with God. The life that could make you lose everything here on Earth and know that the best is yet to come. After those 3 days of blindness, there was no doubt in Saul’s mind that he wanted to be immersed to start his life with Christ.
Do you want to see God working? Use his saving power. What’s his saving power? It is the Gospel. Paul witnessed countless times how people’s lives changed just from him teaching them & them accepting the Gospel. You have to understand that seeing this over and over fed on itself to the extent that there was no doubt that the Gospel was life changing. That first step to teaching someone the Gospel is not a big one but is gigantic if you never lift your foot. I’m there with y’all.
Do you see God’s power in Saul’s transformation to Paul? Paul “sold all out” to Christ. Have you? In so many ways, I have. In some important ways, I have not. My wife pushes me to “sell out” in different ways than I am accustomed. I have to put down myself and quit pushing back to give room for her exhortation to grow.
What does the creation of this blog stem from? Our desire to have this attitude. Our desire to be the sweet smelling aroma that God richly loves. Our desire to honestly and undoubtedly be able to swear to Jesus that we love him more than our spouse, family, friends, job, school, & wealth.
Oh, and why first to the Jew? Because God kept his word in that salvation would come to his people before all others. He so wished they had accepted Jesus. They had their shot and they blew it. Now, God’s chosen people are no longer Israel but the Christian people (Galatians Ch 4 Hagar/Sarah). We are the children of promise who have been adopted but given full rights of sonship along with Jesus.
24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
“God gave them over”. God didn’t force them. God let the world do as they wanted in their own heart to do. The evil did not come from God. The evil was man’s own desires. Desires that brought no exaltation to themselves…only dishonor.
17Porque en el evangelio la justicia de Dios se revela por fe y para fe; como está escrito: MAS EL JUSTO POR LA FE VIVIRA.
Spanish probably does a better job of translating. “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is BY FAITH & FOR (purpose of creating) FAITH, just as it is written:…”
I was just waiting on my invitation to get all this out.
Let's keep it up.
What really identified Jesus as the Son of God? The fact that he not only told people he could rise from death, like so many other Messiah-wanna-bes during those time, he actually rose to live on Earth for 40 days & then never died again (unlike say, Lazarus) as He went to Heaven with God. The miracles were nice but you have to know that each of those 12 Apostles along with other disciples were waiting to authenticate Jesus as Savior & Messiah with his conquering over death. He was the real deal.
6among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
Want a purpose driven life? You are called to be “of Jesus Christ”. If you are a Christian, you should not be ever depressed about your life because you have a Way about your life, Jesus. We are not the last kid picked for kickball. We are the captains picked to make the teams. God does not choose talented people. God gives talent to those He chooses.
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
This should tell us a lot about the Christians in Rome. They didn’t even yet have the presence of direct teaching from the Apostles but yet they were growing strong off of the evangelism that undoubtedly spread to Rome. This tells me that the Christians that evangelized in Rome were passionate themselves and that it rubbed off on those new Christians. So much so, that regions from far away knew of how great their “working” faith was.
11For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;
11Porque anhelo veros para impartiros algún don espiritual, a fin de que seáis confirmados;
Spanish does a good job of using the word “confirmed” instead of “established”
How did spiritual gifts confirm them? I think in the same way that the Apostles words were confirmed to be from Christ (Mark 16:14-20). As I mentioned before, they had not received direct teaching from Apostles so in order for them to be able to know that they were following sound teaching, a gift of some sort would be given to them. We have no clue what it would be.
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
THIS ATTITUDE SHOULD BE OUR ATTITUDE!
Guys, why did Paul get to accomplish so much with so many & we’re still struggling to keep ourselves in line? Why did Paul face such strict punishment and rebuke and yet never stop teaching? Why did he stand up to the elite in government (Felix & Agrippa) & the society (idol makers in Ephesus)? How could someone reject a promising career in Judaism to be trashed by his own people?
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel! He knew what it was like to “know whole-heartedly” that you are right with God (locking up Christians & holding the coats of those who stoned Stephen) and be oh so wrong. When Jesus appeared to him on that road to Damascus, Saul’s mind must have gone mad. Everything Jesus told him was the opposite of what Saul thought & lived. Then Jesus, explaining all about his life, death, resurrection, and ascension (the four parts of the Gospel), gave this low life a chance at the elite life of a Christian. The life that had God’s approval. The life that really meant you could live forever. The life that proved that what is here on Earth ain’t nothing compared to what is with God. The life that could make you lose everything here on Earth and know that the best is yet to come. After those 3 days of blindness, there was no doubt in Saul’s mind that he wanted to be immersed to start his life with Christ.
Do you want to see God working? Use his saving power. What’s his saving power? It is the Gospel. Paul witnessed countless times how people’s lives changed just from him teaching them & them accepting the Gospel. You have to understand that seeing this over and over fed on itself to the extent that there was no doubt that the Gospel was life changing. That first step to teaching someone the Gospel is not a big one but is gigantic if you never lift your foot. I’m there with y’all.
Do you see God’s power in Saul’s transformation to Paul? Paul “sold all out” to Christ. Have you? In so many ways, I have. In some important ways, I have not. My wife pushes me to “sell out” in different ways than I am accustomed. I have to put down myself and quit pushing back to give room for her exhortation to grow.
What does the creation of this blog stem from? Our desire to have this attitude. Our desire to be the sweet smelling aroma that God richly loves. Our desire to honestly and undoubtedly be able to swear to Jesus that we love him more than our spouse, family, friends, job, school, & wealth.
Oh, and why first to the Jew? Because God kept his word in that salvation would come to his people before all others. He so wished they had accepted Jesus. They had their shot and they blew it. Now, God’s chosen people are no longer Israel but the Christian people (Galatians Ch 4 Hagar/Sarah). We are the children of promise who have been adopted but given full rights of sonship along with Jesus.
24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
“God gave them over”. God didn’t force them. God let the world do as they wanted in their own heart to do. The evil did not come from God. The evil was man’s own desires. Desires that brought no exaltation to themselves…only dishonor.
17Porque en el evangelio la justicia de Dios se revela por fe y para fe; como está escrito: MAS EL JUSTO POR LA FE VIVIRA.
Spanish probably does a better job of translating. “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is BY FAITH & FOR (purpose of creating) FAITH, just as it is written:…”
I was just waiting on my invitation to get all this out.
Let's keep it up.
I'm in!
Get ready for my stuff! Now I know this is going to come as a shocker to you all but I actually found more value in the 1st half. The 2nd half of chapter 1 is good too but I think the 1st part has some really good thoughts.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
I'm Reading....I really am!
Just wanted to let you all know that I have been making time to actually sit down and read. I promise to have a few comments and questions to post tomorrow. Thanks for keeping me accountable.
Page
Page
I agree with Amber, the second part of the first chapter is pretty interesting. I guess what struck me was verse 20, that lets us know that it is evident that God is real, just by seeing what He has made.
The other thing I thought was interesting was verse 22 through the end of the chapter.
22(AP)Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23and (AQ)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and [d]crawling creatures.
24Therefore (AR)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be(AS)dishonored among them.
25For they exchanged the truth of God for a (AT)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,(AU)who is blessed forever. Amen.
It continues to say all the bad things that are going on. This interested me because it sounds so similar to what is going on in our world today. People today are always saying how things are so bad right now and it is such a tough world to live in. While I don't disagree with that, it has been that way forever...these verses tell us things and people were bad back then, too. Many people don't feel the Bible is applicable in today's world, or that parts are and parts aren't. When I read Romans 1, I see that things weren't all that different back then, and that makes me feel that the Bible and its teachings are just as applicable today as they were then.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Romans 1:18 - 32
I was much more intrigued by the later half of Romans 1 than the first half. Although the first half presents a number of convictions that I have not yet fully explored.
I did my reading through a site called www.biblegateway.com. It allows you to read the same passage in almost every translation known to man. I find that reading the same passage in several different translations brings the meaning to life for me. The verse that really hits home for me is the last verse of the chapter.
Romans 1:32 (Amplified Bible)
Though they are fully aware of God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them.
The verses before this one describe how our sin starts small, we know God exists, but we do not praise him, we don't thank him. We know God is the creator but we worship the creation not the creator. The more we ignore God the worse our sin (life) becomes. We fall deeper and deeper into a routine that doesn't acknowledge God.
Romans 1:28 - 29 (Amplified Bible)
And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome, 29Until they were filled (permeated and saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness..
The worst of these things is that we "know better", we are "fully aware of God." I think my challenge is more in "considering him worth the knowing" and doing something about it. Do I strive to know him more intimately, or fully?
I think this blog will be a great way to hear the struggles of others. To encourage one another in our faith. Thanks for setting it up and for inviting me to be a part of it!
I did my reading through a site called www.biblegateway.com. It allows you to read the same passage in almost every translation known to man. I find that reading the same passage in several different translations brings the meaning to life for me. The verse that really hits home for me is the last verse of the chapter.
Romans 1:32 (Amplified Bible)
Though they are fully aware of God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them.
The verses before this one describe how our sin starts small, we know God exists, but we do not praise him, we don't thank him. We know God is the creator but we worship the creation not the creator. The more we ignore God the worse our sin (life) becomes. We fall deeper and deeper into a routine that doesn't acknowledge God.
Romans 1:28 - 29 (Amplified Bible)
And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome, 29Until they were filled (permeated and saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness..
The worst of these things is that we "know better", we are "fully aware of God." I think my challenge is more in "considering him worth the knowing" and doing something about it. Do I strive to know him more intimately, or fully?
I think this blog will be a great way to hear the struggles of others. To encourage one another in our faith. Thanks for setting it up and for inviting me to be a part of it!
Disciple Question
What is the difference between an apostle and a disciple?
Apostle was a disciple that was chosen for a few reasons.
Acts 1:21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection."
This alone eliminates anybody now-a-days claiming to be an Apostle.
Apostles were like the Secretary of State (Hillary). They go and represent President Obama (hehe). Obama can give these representatives the authority to speak for him. When the Apostle speaks, Jesus is approving & in essence speaking.
Disciple is just a follower, like you & me. We follow Jesus' commands as he directly gave them and as he indirectly gave them through his hand picked Apostles.
Paul actually fit the requirements laid out in Acts 1:21 because when Jesus showed up on the road to Damascus, it wasn't just small talk. I believe that Jesus told him everything about him. Everything he would need to know to be on par with the original 12-13. Read Galatians 1 & 2. I also believe that during those 3 days of blindness, Jesus & Paul talked a lot. Paul actually knew of Jesus since this Jesus character was always making headlines. He know of Jesus but just hadn't accepted the fact that he was the Messiah.
This is just a quick answer. If you need more info, keep asking
Here We Go!
I really enjoy blogging, but I don't do enough Bible Study. Page and I were talking and decided we should combine the blogging and Bible study. So, here we go! We are starting with the book of Romans. Right now, I don't have much of a format or anything for us to follow. I think it would be good for us just to start reading and write down questions, comments, thoughts, whatever you have. Let's start with chapter one. I have read some of it, and two questions jumped out at me: What is the difference between an apostle and a disciple? and...How is Jesus considered a descendent of David when it is Joseph who is a descendent of David? These are some questions that I don't normally like to ask because I don't like to look stupid, so feel free to ask as many questions as you want, no matter how stupid you think they are. Also, feel free to comment, and if you want to be set up as an author so you can post, just let me know!
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