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As Christians, we have much to learn from criminals as we are all guilty before God of breaking his law. As a result, we face three challenges: the condemnation of the law, the corruption of our past lifestyles, and the relational alienation that comes from sin. Yet God, in his mercy, has given us his spirit that liberates us from condemnation (8:1), enables us to live Spirit-led lives (8:5-11), and assures us of our adoption and union with Christ (8:12-16), that we might share the glory of Christ and abide in eternal fellowship with him (8:17). This Sunday we will explore the spirit's work in
Romans 7 is one of those chapters that will either make or break your Christian life. Depending on your interpretation, it is either an extremely encouraging chapter because you can see your own life mirrored in the life of the Apostle Paul or it is a discouraging chapter that leads you to question whether you have been saved at all. In some of the most personal language he uses in his letters, Paul describes the normal Christian life. It’s not always pretty or victorious, but it is always centered on the person and work of Jesus for us.
At the end of Romans 5, Paul said something that probably infuriated his Jewish readers and confounds religious people to this day: where sin increases, grace abounds all the more. Many people think the main benefit of religion (any religion) is to make bad people better, but Paul says Christianity is ultimately about bad people getting what they don’t deserve: grace! So, now in chapter 6, Paul addresses two potential points of confusion. As we saw last week, he first addressed the absurd conclusion that some people had about his teaching about grace and the gospel. This week, we’re continuing
As humans, we cannot help but make excuses for ourselves. After all, we’re only human, right? This Sunday we will examine the first of two excuses Paul addresses in Romans 6: “Should we sin so that grace may abound all the more?” The immediate answer is absolutely not, but the reason Paul provides is far deeper than we would expect: if you’re making excuses for sin, you have forgotten your union in Christ. This Sunday we will explore three pictures Paul uses to describe our union with Christ as we remember and savor our identity in him.
In this profound passage, the Apostle Paul answers one of life's most important questions: What is wrong with us and the world we live in? Paul's answer is both sobering and hopeful. Our problem is found in Adam, but our solution is found in Jesus Christ. Join us as we consider our miserable condition in Adam and the superabundant grace that is ours through union with Christ.
Does God’s justification of sinners make any practical difference to daily life? Is it simply a doctrine to be believed or is it a doctrine that makes a difference—both to our status and in our experience of God? This week, we turn to the first half of Romans 5 and see the difference justification makes. In some of the most joy-filled verses of Paul’s letter, he lays out several ways that justification matters in the life of a Christian today, demonstrating that sound doctrine makes a difference in real life.
This week we continue our series in the book of Romans and examine Paul's discussion of Abraham's faith. For any group, the values of our forebears informs our collective identity. Paul targets Abraham's faith (Gen. 15:6), as the example of justification, to remind the church at Rome that justification by faith is not a new idea; rather, it has been the foundation of salvation from the earliest stages of the Lord's salvific ministry. In focusing on verses 17-25, we will examine the nature of Abraham's faith, and seek to understand how justification by faith functions throughout the covenant of
The power of the Apostle Paul’s rhetoric and logic is on clear display in the second half of Romans 3. After definitively proving that all humanity is unrighteous, under sin, and subject to God’s wrath, he turns the tables and announces the good news: righteousness can only come through faith in Jesus Christ! With this set of verses, he concludes his long and devastating indictment of Jews and Gentiles alike. And with this set of verses, he begins what Martin Luther called, "the chief point, and the very central place of the epistle, and of the whole Bible.” Join us this Sunday in our continui
After showing the Gentiles their need for God's righteousness, Paul turns to his fellow Jews. Because the Jews were boasting in their outward conformity to God's will, Paul reminds them of their failure to obey the law and corrects their misunderstanding about circumcision. Paul wants the Jews to recognize they need God's righteousness just like the Gentiles. Although Paul's critiques target first-century Jews in this passage, we must recognize that we too are prone to boast in outward conformity to God's will without inward obedience. But, as we will see, our hope is not in what we do, but in
Paul’s great thesis in this letter is found in Romans 1:16-17. He confidently declares that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed and by that same gospel, the righteous shall live by faith. But who are the righteous? Last week, we saw how all of us are guilty of the various sins against which God’s wrath is being and will be revealed. In this week’s text, we are confronted with a confusing and potentially contradictory underlying theological principle: God judges according to works and on the last day, we
