Pay close attention to the way Paul describes sin in Romans 6 .  He says we should not allow sin to reign  over our mortal bodies. Paul argues that to do so means that we will no longer obey our own passions as followers of Christ, but instead will obey sin’s passions  ( Vs. 12 ). Notice how Paul personifies the idea of sin by using a grammatically possessive phrasing – almost as if sin is a living being with the ability to rule, having passions it wishes to impose upon other

Paul frequently assaults your mind with complex reasoning that even his fellow apostles sometimes found challenging to understand ( 2 Peter 3:15-16 ). But this isn’t necessarily the case in the first several verses of Romans 6 .  Yes, Paul is using complex and challenging reasoning with multiple layers of depth in that passage, but he also presents a very clear, easy-to-understand outline of what happens when someone genuinely trusts Christ for salvation.  In this section of

Themes of life and death dominate the pages of the Old and New Testaments.  Threads of these concepts, as well as wholly woven sheets of these threads, are commonplace throughout the entire bible. Unfortunately, we may not be thinking as deeply about these opposing terms as we ought. We tend to think of death as the cessation of biology. We tend to think of life as a heart beat, brain waves, and body temperature. These ways of thinking about those notions are true, but they a

You might think that the most significant evidence of the sovereignty of God is his creation of the universe.  Or perhaps you think it is that he once commanded the sun and moon to stop along their paths in the sky – and they obeyed him ( Joshua 10:12-14 )! Maybe you think it's his rescue of the people of Israel from the tyranny of Egypt ( Exodus 1-14 ). Surely, we can’t leave out his power over the waters of the Earth when he drowned the recalcitrant evils of wayward men alo

Paul argues that our faith in Christ has put us in a position of grace with God, and that because of that position of grace, we can expect to both share and rejoice in God’s glory ( Romans 5:1-2 ). Interestingly, in describing that process, he says that our rejoicing is in the hope  of that divine glory. It is very important to understand that early Christians did not use that word hope  in the same way that we do today. We might say something like, “I hope it doesn’t rain to

At the beginning of Romans 5 , Paul continues developing his intricate treatise on the justifying power of faith.  He just reminded us in Chapter 4  that Abraham wasn’t made right by any works of the law, but instead was made right by trusting God ( Romans 4:13 , Romans 4:20-22 ). Paul argues unequivocally that Abraham’s trust in the promises of God are what counted toward his righteousness. He then goes on to argue how the same principle applies to everyone who trusts God (

At the end of Romans 3 , Paul argues that there is only one God, and that he is the God of everyone regardless of whether or not a person is a circumcised Jew, or an uncircumcised Gentile ( Romans 3:27-31 ). In the development of his argument, he contends that the Jew is made right by faith, and the Gentile is made right through faith. What Paul is saying is that a person is made right by his belief in who God is, and his trust in the goodness of God rather than by his cultur

In Romans 3:9-22 , Paul makes a compelling biblical argument that no one is without sin.  In fact, not only does he assert that everyone is a sinner , but he also strongly argues that no one  can be made right with God through the Mosaic law. Those piercing statements would not have landed well with his contemporary religious elites. Those elites would have been repulsed by both the tip and the edge of that spearhead. Their pride would have been punctured and sliced in ways t

Paul begins Romans 3  on the heels of a discussion about circumcision. In his circumcision discussion he explained how Jews should not presume to be members of God’s people based solely on the fact that they have engaged in a religious and cultural ritual.  What you look like on the outside, Paul argued, doesn’t matter in the eyes of God ( 1 Samuel 16:7 ).  Rather, what matters is the state of your heart.  Being a true member of God’s people is a matter of faith, trust, alleg

When God sent the angel Gabriel with a message to Mary, who became the mother of Jesus, the first thing he did was address her as, “ O favored one. ” He told her that the Lord was with her, and then declared once again that she had found favor with God ( Luke 1:26-35 ).  Mary, understandably, had a little difficulty processing the message, so Gabriel let her have it straight.  He told her that she would bear a child who would be the Son of God, and who would have an eternal k

Paul ends Romans 2  with a strong and convincing argument that relying on outward culturally Jewish rituals to identify yourself as a child of God only serves to blaspheme his divine name among those who don’t know him when you break his law. He says that true circumcision which identifies you as part of God’s family is one that involves cutting away the sordid parts of your inner being. This “circumcision of the heart” results in new motives, new passions, a new mind, a new

The circumcision of every male child on the 8th day after his birth ranks as one of the central most important rituals in the Jewish faith. It is a ritual that is challenging to comprehend completely, and you can plumb the depths of its essence and implications for a long, long time. Even the wisest and most literate of rabbis struggle to elucidate its full meaning in ways that have intuitive value. In fact, you can ask 10 different rabbis and 10 different Christian pastors w

When God gives a person over to a reprobate mind , appalling and awful things grow in it. And while it may not be obvious at first blush, there’s a coherent, logical, and recognizable reason for why those appalling and awful things grow. Paul charts out the end result of this dreadful process for us in Romans 1:28-31 , and in the very first verse in that passage he identifies that reason. There, he says that because some people didn’t see fit to keep in their minds a respectf

The early church father, St. Augustine of Hippo, argued in his work, “ On Grace and Nature ,” that the punishment for sin is a surrender to even more sin. Any person who has truly wrestled with their sinful desires and honestly allowed God to crucify those sins, knows this truth. The commission of one sin leads to an imperceptible ease in the commission of others. Then, as those other sins mount in both number and severity, there comes a blindness to the family of sins to whi

Right before Paul begins a long, honest, and blunt teaching regarding God’s wrath against unrighteousness, he sets the stage for that teaching with four important theological truths. Those truths permeate all of his doctrine throughout his entire letter to the Roman church, and they have particular relevance to God’s wrath toward the sinfulness of people. They also point to his love for those people and his desire to rescue them from that wrath. In Romans 1:16-17 , Paul gives

Paul wrote the book of Romans to both Jew and Gentile believers who belonged to the church in the city of Rome. Interestingly, it is unlike any of the Gospels or the Book of Acts which preceded it.  Like all of Paul’s writings, the book of Romans is actually a letter and not a book – and it reads in stark contrast to any of his other letters anywhere in the Bible.  The Gospels and Acts are largely historical narratives that just tell us what happened in the life of Jesus, and

At the beginning of the Book of Acts, the world of the disciples was in disarray.  They had seen their teacher, their mentor, and their...

We are prone to think that sailing through life with God at the helm of our ship glides us through smooth and peaceful waters.  However,...

What exactly is a child or baby dedication? Well, the one thing it isn’t is the one thing it looks like it is. Dedicating a child to the...

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