Romans #1

I'm journaling through Romans with the rest of SWO. I read the verse, write down what I think it's saying and how it applies to me, and then i look through about 4 different study bibles/references that I have and see what those guys say. That's how I'm choosing to go about this for now. It's been great going through verse by verse. Maybe you'd enjoy this too? If not, I don't think that blogger.com is going to crash anytime soon so i can always just store these guys here in case my computer does crash one day. And don't worry, i'll save the real personal stuff for my handy dandy notebook :) 

Romans 1:1-16

March 16-19, 2011

 Wednesday:

·      Vs. 1: Paul’s authority is stated. He was a SLAVE to Christ. He was called (entire devotion) to be an apostle, just as the 12 that Christ chose. The apostles established the church, and they carried out the mission of the church-called to share the Gospel of Christ.

o   Greek: doulos: bondservant, slave

·      Vs. 2-3: Christ was promised in the Old Testament. His coming was not a surprise, but a long awaited gift from the line of David.

·      Vs. 4: Christ was not only to be born in flesh, but He was the Son of God. He resurrected from the dead because He is LORD.

·      Vs. 5: We receive grace and apostleship from Christ. Paul also speaks of an obedience of faith to be spread to all nations (he was concerned with the gentiles). He is not talking about a “share the gospel-get’um saved!” His apostleship was all about discipling believers. We are to train new believers in the ways of Christ so that they may live in consistent obedience with Christ. We are to “bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name,” to bring Christ all the glory.

o   Name: reputation or honor

§  Disciple others to obedience for the sake of Christ’s honor.

o   Greek: Apostole-Apostleship: a sending away

§  To spread to the nations

·      Vs. 5-6: Among all nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ: the gospel of Jesus Christ never loses power. Sanctification is never complete until He takes us Home. Even those who already belong to Jesus Christ have not accomplished complete obedience.

·      Vs. 7: Rome is loved by God and called to be saints (Holy ones before God: all believers). Paul wished them grace and peace from God and Christ. Peace: as in OT’s Shalom- “all is well”-physically and spiritually.

***The gospel concerns Jesus Christ. He is the center of attention. He is the one that we are to obey completely. He lived our life, He did it perfectly, He is our Lord. I must be more diligent in following up with those who Christ has saved. We are to have accountability with others to carry out our obedience of faith.

Thursday:

·      Vs. 8: Paul is thankful for the Romans and their faith, as he normally begins (except in Galatians). He was thankful that their faith was spreading throughout the world. Paul’s goal and mission of spreading the gospel to the gentiles was being fulfilled through these people, which seemed to thrill Him. Paul got excited over every saved life. He also recognized the trinity in this passage; He was thankful to God through Jesus Christ and his atonement.

·      Vs. 9: Paul straight-up asks for God to hold Him accountable. I’m pretty sure that there is no human that could do a better job of filtering my words. Greek: Serve with my spirit could be translated worship with my spirit.

·      Vs. 10: He prayed to be in alignment with God’s will. He wanted to “succeed” by being used by God.

·      Vs. 11-12: brotherly encouragement and strength in this crazy world. It must be wonderful to have someone like Paul want to encourage you and say “good job,” but so great of the Romans to be able to equally encourage Paul! They made him so proud. Obviously, mutual encouragement was important to Paul’s ministry. Therefore, it should be important to the church.

o   Greek: gift: charisma-gift of Grace: from the Spirit. In this text, gift could describe spiritual gifts, as well as general blessings and Christ himself.

*** Rome was an important city of the time. EVERYONE looked at Rome. This is why it was so wonderful for Paul to see such an influential city doing so well and showing such strength. Paul was a humble apostle: he wanted to visit to learn more from their faith. Pride not only gets in the way of the Holy Spirit’s teaching, but it gets in the way of our fellow believer’s teaching. We are to be mutually encouraging to each other in our race.

 Friday:

·      Vs. 13: Paul’s interest in the Romans was not all of a sudden. He had been watching and encouraged by them in the past. He’d been prevented in the past from visited them. But, he wanted to come to “reap some harvest.” Among the Romans could mean that he wanted to guide them closer to maturity and obedience. “Among the rest of the Gentiles,” recognized that the church at Rome is primarily made up of gentiles. In this sense, He wanted to bear fruit in new converts.

·      Vs. 14: Paul was “in debt” or “obligated” to the Greeks and the Barbarians. This was why He was not able to go to Rome a number of times. Jesus Christ entrusted Paul with the Gospel (like He does every Christian). Paul was not able to leave the people that God called him too. The Greeks were people who had accepted Greek culture. They were educated and spoke Greek. The Barbarians were those who did not accept Greek culture, could not speak the language, and were not educated. Paul was not concerned with social status throughout his mission.

·      Vs. 15: Paul wanted to preach the gospel to believers. Paul was consumed with the Gospel. It never gets old. The Gospel forgives sins, releases the power or sin, and gives an eternal hope. It’s not an initial saving faith but a daily walk of faith.

***The gospel never becomes mediocre news. It is ALWAYS good news. We have an obligation to share it with those around us. Paul was not and “special Christian.” He was given the same call as the rest of us; he just took it seriously. He was dedicated to seeing new converts produce fruit and grow. He couldn’t leave the shaky Greeks and Barbarians to go to those who are doing well, immediately, but he found encouraging them to be at the utmost importance.

 Saturday:

·      Vs. 16: Ashamed. The gospel was not a popular message for people of the time to share, but Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel. I’m pretty sure he made that clear. He never let persecution wear him down. He saw it as a message of divine wisdom. Power. The word “dynamite” comes from this word. God’s power is the only thing able to remove our sin. The gospel carries the omnipotence of God. Through the Holy Spirit, it has a life-changing impact on us because of our weakness and spiritual inability because of sin. Salvation. The word salvation speaks of a rescue from sin. The power of the gospel is the only thing that is able to SAVE a people as lost as we are. It rescues us from complete darkness and an eternity of punishment. Believes. It’s not a one-time deal and you are done. You must keep on believing after salvation. It’s a continuous action that comes with true-saving faith. Jew. Christ first came for the Jews. God chose Israel to be his witness nation. Paul was careful to not ignore the privileges given to the Jews by God. Greeks. Or gentiles. Christ came to save the all kinds of people.

****If I really let this verse soak in, I’d be sharing the gospel with every stranger that passed me. The Gospel is POWERFUL. God has rescued me from awful sins. I’m thankful for sanctification, that as I continue to believe, the Holy Spirit teaches me how to not be ashamed. Because I say I am not, but does my life prove it? I’m not ashamed, but can’t I prove that more by sharing it more?....because it’s the most important thing in my life, and that’s something to talk about.