Near the end of Romans 13, Paul makes the case that people fulfill the law by living in such a way that they literally embody a commitment to the well-being of the individual humans who come into their circle (Romans 13:8-10). In other words, Paul is saying that people who demonstrate love by committing themselves to the well-being of others through their physical choices are a fulfillment of the Old Testament law. I am using the word embody for a reason. We are made to be th

In Romans 13, Paul makes an argument that likely would rub many freedom-minded Americans the wrong way. Paul says that everyone should be subject to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-2). He argues that all authorities are appointed by God, and their power flows solely from him. Such being the case, Paul then argues that to resist the authorities is to resist God. He does not make any distinction between whether the authorities are good-hearted, bad-hearted, indifferent,

There is a ringing, melodic note that runs all throughout the New Testament. It calls followers of Christ to grow toward the goal of maturity. Placing an accent on that melodic pitch, Paul begins Romans 12 with a clarion call to his readers to hear that exact note and to play it on the instrument of their lives. But you might miss it if you don’t take the time to meditate on what he is saying, or to cross reference other scriptures, or to examine the original language. Provoc

Paul starts Romans 12 with a very clear mandate. He tells us to present our bodies as living sacrifices, and then he tells us not to conform to the world but be transformed by changing how we think (Romans 12:1-2). Changing the way we think about things, according to Paul, allows us to discern the will of God, and to do what is good and acceptable. He then tells us to use that new way of thinking to avoid the trap of pride so that we can fully and maturely use the gifts that

In the first two verses of Romans 12, Paul implored us to make our bodies into living sacrifices. He argued that this was a logical response to who God is, given how he had described him in Romans 11. Paul was making the case that the continual, daily sacrifices in our lives – as marked by godly and reasoned physical choices – count as religious service to God. His point was that what we do with our bodies, reflects our spiritual state, which largely flows from how we think.

Paul pleads with us in Romans 12: 1 (ESV) to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship. But what exactly does any of that mean? How does one present one’s own body as a living sacrifice and how, precisely, is that spiritual worship? Doesn’t a sacrifice require a death? And what is worship anyway? Let’s explore Paul's metaphor. His primary meaning is that our physical actions demonstrate our spiritual state. He doesn'

Paul ends Romans 11 by pointing out how rich, knowledgeable and wise God is. He doesn’t mince any words about it, either. He argues that God is so knowledgeable, so wise, and his mind so powerful that no mere human can understand his judgements, and that no one has the analytical or intellectual ability to fathom or scrutinize his ways (Romans 11:33). He reinforces that thought with a scripture he borrows from Isaiah, and rhetorically asks, what person has known the mind of

A favorite quote of mine from C.S. Lewis is found in his work, “The Great Divorce.” As he is so apt to do, Lewis captures with just a few words the essence of both practical and spiritual reality. He wrote, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.’” People who truly seek God, will diligently seek his will. They will place their trust in that will, and they will live th

The letter that Paul writes to the church at Rome is one in which he is addressing both Jewish and Gentile Christians. These two religious groups grew from the soils of what seem like two different histories, but really aren’t. Paul believes that they should not be two wholly separate groups, but rather two peoples unified as one under the banner of Christ Jesus. He goes to great pains to make the case that the ingredient both groups should be sharing is a faith in Christ as

At the beginning of Romans 9, Paul shares the heart-wrenching desire he has for his Jewish brothers and sisters to know Christ. So strong is this desire for his ethnic family that he says he would willingly be accursed and cut off from Christ if they would be saved (Romans 9:2)! That is a radical level of unrestrained love and patriotism! It also reflects the change in Paul’s post-conversion heart, demonstrating that it had been made more like Christ’s sacrificial heart. At a

The bible introduces us to a very counterintuitive idea in a section of Joseph’s story that chronicles his brush with the wife of a royal official (Genesis 39). It is there that the bible tells us that the Lord was with Joseph, and that he made him a successful man, partly by placing him where his talents could be put on display and prospered. Joseph would become a servant in the house of Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officers. While serving Potiphar’s household, God’s presence

Near the end of Romans 9, Paul makes a very controversial argument. It angered religious snobs, and probably Satanic spirits as well. Paul uses references from the book of Hosea that were originally aimed at the errant Northern Kingdom of Israel. In the Hosea passages, God is making it known in a prophetic way by using a marriage metaphor that the Northern Kingdom had broken covenant with him, and because they had defiled their matrimony by prostituting themselves with other

Jewish Peter struggled at times with the writings of Paul because their complexity made them difficult to understand (2 Peter 3:15-16). If Peter, being a man enmeshed in complex Jewish culture, who also walked physically with Jesus during his ministry, found the writings of Jewish Paul difficult to understand, how much harder will it be to easily understand the writings of Paul for those of us who are not Jews, and who are far removed from the ancient world? Romans 9 is one s

On Christmas day in 1944, Lt. John Robert Fox, an American soldier in the 598th Field Artillery Battalion, was stationed with his team as forward observers in Sommocolonia, Italy. Over the course of that night, swarms of German soldiers disguised in civilian clothes crept into town and began to take it by force. American soldiers were compelled to withdraw, but they needed time to get away and regroup. Lt. Fox called in artillery fire multiple times on those enemy forces. I

Human beings are made in the image of God. Christians often try to capture this in our language by saying things like, “we bear the image of God.” This implies that we carry the image as if it is some kind of weighty burden and that this tiresome effort is the natural, perpetual, and intended state of our duty. While this statement is true so long as we walk in a fallen world where sin and evil appear to rule, and where principalities and powers hate that image, the phrase

For either good or ill (and usually a dose of both), the most influential person in almost any human being’s life is a mother. It is a mother who is the first model of humanity, and the first model of kindness, and the first model of hardened strength, and the first model of soft warmth, and the first model of love, and the first model of patience, and the first model of personal industry. Before any human being can understand what sacrifice is, she is the first example of i

Paul opens Romans 8 with one of the most profound statements in all of the bible. He says that there is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). He means that those of us who are animated by the Spirit of Christ, and who belong to him, and who walk with him, and who love him are immune to condemnation. While we may suffer correction, discipline and chastisement, we will never be permanently punished. Instead, we will be shaped into a full maturity

I’ve heard it said that there is no glory in war or death. In my experience, this is usually proffered by someone claiming that all war or violence is an unnecessary evil at best, and a satanic evil at its worst – nevermind that gallant violence or a just war is sometimes necessary to remove actual evil before it destroys honest peace and innocent life. While I once spent a short portion of my life training for war, I have never had to see it up close, and I hope to never se

The word condemnation carries a terrible weight. Formally, it means to declare someone guilty of a specific crime. As a judge hands down his sentence, he might sternly shout to the defendant, “You are condemned for the murder of your neighbor!” When he does that, he is declaring the criminal’s guilt to the world. He is also declaring the finality of his punishment. The condemnation publicizes the criminal’s guilt, but it also serves to fill his ears with the certainty of wh

The writer of Hebrews tells us unequivocally that it is impossible to please God without faith ( Hebrews 11:6 ). Paul tells us unequivocally in Romans 8:8 that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. While these two statements are addressing different things, they are also inseparable. The writer of Hebrews wants us to know that we must trust God in order to please him – and he gives us the reason for why that is so. He essentially tells us in the second part of th