Categories Bible Study
Romans 1
Welcome to this study on Romans. Simply read chapter 1 and comment if you like.
Welcome to this study on Romans. Simply read chapter 1 and comment if you like.
3 thoughts on “Romans 1”
aha! you are home! i was afraid my ice cream was starting to melt. help yourselves.
what really jumped out at me this time was verses 18-32. (sorry, i read ahead a little bit as well) but given the context of his opening statement in verse 18, and where he takes this in chapter 2, i’m going to have to rethink the way i’ve read romans my whole life.
i think paul is talking about the church here. and that is to put it into modern context. i think paul is talking abuot those who had received the TRUE revelation of god and then turned it into something wrong. something horrible. you know, the pharisees and the teachers of the law and the high priest and what not.
and i believe, at least in the america, that there is a public face of “the church” that is EXACTLY like the “church” (and by that, i mean the jews) back in paul’s day.
commonly, i have read this and had it read to me in the context of it being about “pagans” and other such “unbelievers.” i don’t think so anymore.
in verse 18 he says: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…“
how exactly does one suppress a truth they are not familiar with? they do not. and paul goes on to make that case through the rest of the chapter. i think he’s talking about “the church” here. the tares. the ultra religious of his day. (and i would say the paralleles apply in our own day. as you read, i’m sure you can think of a few examples.)
in our modern day, we say, “since he mentions homosexual behavior, he must be talking about those horrible heathens out there somewhere. we “good christians” do not do such things, so he can’t be talking to us.”
okay. but the jews about whom he was actually speaking were having sex with temple prostitutes of the same sex. so…
just take the sex part out of it. the rest reads like a manual of the ultra religious christians of our day and why it is they don’t actually know god…when they are convinced that they do.
(oops. that’s chapter 2.)
not saying that all the pharisees were having sex with temple prostitutes, but it has been known to have happened in israel.
wycraxgl (that was a good one)
Actually now you point it out I can think of parallels which is concerning. It seems the trouble started in v. 21 where “they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him”. The Message Bible says, “refusing to worship Him.” I think in worship we get things in perspective. That life is not about me, but about Him.
My own thoughts about v. 19 before I read Jon’s where about my parents. My parents aren’t Christians yet I know that God has given them so many many opportunities and I think God does that for everyone.
v.17 reminded me of what we read in Galatians, “a righteousness that is by faith from first to last”
and v. 12 is what I hope happens here “that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith”.
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