Romans 1

A while back, I wanted to do write on certain chapters of the book of Romans.   With the work here in Cuenca, I was not able to really sit down and write like I've wanted to lately.  Yet by the grace of God, I am asking the Lord to enable me to share with you each week now from the book of Romans ( the first 8 chapters, a half of chapter at a time probably).

And through the devotions I simply would like to highlight truth.  God has placed that in my heart lately.  I asked Him if I could be a highlighter - you know, like those yellow highlighters we buy in the store - we use it, because something stands out to us in what we are reading in a book. 

The glory of God is found in the fact that His Spirit lives in our hearts (still can't get over it) - and He is the ONE God says and means, leads and guides us into all truth.  He is the power to understand God's Word - and thank God, we can rely on Him.

In the first half of the chapter of Romans the "highlighting" I see and again, means much to me, is as follows:

The Gospel of God is His fixed reality - unchangeable by man.  It is exactly what God calls it - the Gospel of God.  Once a person understands  God's Gospel (not man's), a true and genuine transforming experience follows and fruit is truly born in their life. 

What is the Gospel of God?

            a)         It is God's salvation by which man is saved only by and through faith in the One God sent to be the Savior of the world.   Faith is not some cheap idea - it is God's powerful reality for us.

            Verse 1-2 - Paul was separated to the Gospel of God which God promised before through the prophets concerning His Son, Jesus Christ born of the seed of David according to the flesh - declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness - and by the resurrection of the dead.

            b)         The salvation of God - the Gospel of God is about grace received for all nations who believe.  Verse 3 "Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all nations for His name, among whom YOU are the called of Jesus Christ.

            c)         Those who believe God's Gospel are:

                        Verse 7 - "Beloved of God, called to be His saints."

                        Verse 16 - "Experience the true power of God and His salvation 
                                           by believing."

                        Verse 17 - "The just shall live by faith."

In Verse 8, 11, and 12 Paul talks about their faith - first, that it is spoken of throughout the world, that he desires for them to be encouraged together in their MUTUAL faith, and that he wants to see them in order that they may be established in the reality of the faith of the Gospel of God.

This sets this WHOLE tone of the book to me.  If I do not understand God's premise of salvation and how I become transformed by His living Son - which is, the foundation of grace and faith in God and in His Son, then I will experience corruption of the glorious Gospel of God.

And guess what?  I did!  I can look back on my years of living and realize how the enemy was sowing tares in my thinking - just a little tare here, a little tare there.

When a person plows a ground, the lines can be crooked just a bit and one may not really notice much - but get it all plowed out, stand back and the distance tells whether the lines are straight or not.

The distance of our walk (maybe years) tells us whether or not the Gospel of God was really straight in our thinking and hearts.  And whether or not we have stayed on the foundation of God's Gospel.

The good news was to me is that God let me "replow!"  Is that a word?  :)

It is our responsibility to tear down traditions, ideas, or whatever, if we come to realize we are not genuinely bearing fruit God's way and we are walking superficially.  God desires for us to know and understand. 

It's more than His desire though - He commands everyone to believe the Gospel.  (Part II tells us why).  Every heart does need to repent for having their own thinking in regard to God's Word of Truth, His glorious Gospel.

"Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought to not think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something to be shaped by art, and man's devising.  Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent."  Acts 17:29, 30

Pondering God's Glorious Gospel,

Sue Gaither

Romans 1 - Part II

In pondering the second half of Chapter One of Romans (which again is a letter) - I thought of a view master "toy" when I was a kid.  It was plastic like "gizmo" where you could insert thin, cardboard disks with colored photographs of different assortments and have stereoscopic sight-seeing. 

It is such a blessing to "view" the word of God with the Holy Spirit as the Master.  Perhaps we could turn the words around and say, "MasterView!"

The question that comes to mind is:  Are verses 18-32 a list of sins and God's wrath concerning just them?  And who are the "them and they" Paul is writing about under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?

Later on in this powerful letter to the Romans, Paul does indeed describe that on this planet there are two groups of people:  Those in Adam and those in Christ. 

All of us, before receiving Christ Jesus and were born of Him, were in Adam.  We were the ungodly, the unrighteous, the foolish in heart, the futile in thought (verse 21).  And we were the "them and they."

When you view verse 7, "Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," in comparison to verse 18 when Paul writes "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness...," you know he cannot be talking about the same group of people. 

In the beginning of this letter God says of those in Christ: "Called to be saints, beloved of God..."  Later in Romans 5, Paul write that "God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly."

So, is God then mad (full of wrath) at people with a sin problem - that they are indeed, are ungodly?   Is He mad because people have sin, death, corruption, in Adam?   The verse was just quoted that God demonstrated His love for us while we were yet sinners/ungodly.  

How do you demonstrate love and wrath at the same time?

Seeing again through the Master's View, there is a detailed description of where corruption and death lead to, when a person is and remains in Adam as found in those verses of 29-32.  Being in Adam can lead to the ultimate depravity and vile passions of nature against nature, a debased mind and the like.

What then, is God's wrath concerning?  Again, if Christ died for the ungodly, why is there wrath?

Another slide please: I can "see" the wrath of God will come upon those who "believe not the Gospel."  Because they have rejected God's provision, His Son - of coming into God's life and out of sin and death (Adam), all its evil, and belonging to Satan.

If one has received Christ Jesus and truly born of Him, there is no wrath, only hope of glory.  We see this in Paul's other letters.  It's worth pondering the unfathomable riches of God's grace found in Christ Jesus alone.

Spurning God's grace is not taken lightly by Him.  This is what He offers to mankind right now.  And He does indicate that since the creation of the world, He has made His attributes clearly seen so that man is without excuse. 

When someone sees what God has made, they have the where-with-all to ask the question:  "Who is this great God?"  And God can enable them to ask the other questions:  "Why am I so corrupt? Is there hope?"  God can get the Gospel to anyone who seeks.  He is that big.

It is the blessed Gospel to have Jesus Christ in our account - not ALL the pile-up of sins that are found in Adam since the fall.  Man gets a choice as to which account he wants:  Adam's account of sin and eternal death OR Christ - the riches of God's glorious grace for all eternity.

It's all about believing - this is why God has commanded men everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel! To believe is to be free - to believe is know the true power of God which leads only to life and glory - not continual degradation.

Praise the Lord for His unspeakable gift of Christ!

Sue Gaither