Category Archives: Bible

Introduction: Romans 1:1-7 thoughts

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Introductions are somewhat like genealogies to many of us; we have a tendency to just blow them off, and skip to “the good stuff”. But this introduction has plenty of Good stuff in it. It introduces Paul, the Gospel, Jesus, and the Christian, all of which are very relevant to us today, and which will be relevant as we go through the rest of this book.

Paul is a servant, yet also an apostle. How is one sent in authority also a servant? Yet this reflects Jesus’ teaching in Mark 10:42-45 (ESV):

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.43But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servantd, 44and whoever would be first among you must be slavee of all. 45For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Paul is also set apart for the Gospel, to the end of the “obedience of faith”. Interesting that those who are in Rome (v7) are “called to be saints”; holiness is also essentially being set apart. So the one is set apart to preach the gospel, and the others are set apart to live it.

These verses also pack in a lot about Jesus, the point of the Gospel (and of everything else, truth be told).  Jesus in the gospel fulfills promises made by men who spoke for God, whose words were written down and kept for us to read.

The gospel is about Jesus, the Son of God (putting together vv1-3: the gospel of God, which [God] promised beforehand … concerning his Son), but it is also about Jesus the Son of David (v3). But He is also Jesus, the Son of God in power… by his resurrection (v4), and finally, Jesus is the source of both grace and apostleship (v5).

This last one I find interesting, given the bilateral nature of lordship. That is, a Lord and a subject have a two way relationship, the one providing protection and other resources necessary for life, and the other providing service and fealty. In the same way, Jesus provides us Grace, which we need for (eternal and any other) life, but he also gives us a job, to represent him before a fallen world.

Rephrasing the above, in five short verses we see Jesus as the eternal Son of God, the human Son of Man, the glorified Son of God, and the Son our Lord.

These verses also talk about what it means to be a Christian. That is, the purpose of the Gospel is to bring about the obedience of faith (v5), and that purpose is to be fulfilled in the readers (v6). Some have argued about the meaning of “obedience of faith”, given the linguistic ambiguity of the construction. Does it mean that faith is obedience? or that obedience that comes from faith (e.g., NIV)? Or obedience that is in some other way characterized by faith? My understanding of the construction is that it doesn’t require or exclude any of these, and that we must interpret it from the larger context.

Why is this question important? One conversation I had recently asked whether Paul here is talking about a single act of faith, which produces justification (as will be treated at length later in Romans), which is thus itself obedience, but not intrinsically tied to any other obedience? Or is Paul talking about obedience that flows from faith, i.e., sanctification, the act of Christians being made more holy subsequent to their trusting Jesus. And most critically, is it possible to have the one and not the other? Is it possible to trust Jesus, then never produce any concrete life change?

I have heard this question debated ad nauseum, and I think it is important for scholars to wrestle with it, but I think here it is enough to say that even if it is possible to have faith without obedience, that would in no way be a good thing, and that in no way is the point of the Gospel. That is, for Paul (and I hope for us), we want to see lives changed because people trust Jesus (and thereby have a right relationship with God, and go to heaven, etc), but we also want to see lives changed here and now as people live more rightly (and thereby glorify God more in their bodies, here and now). If you’re promoting either one without the other, you’re cheating people, IMHO. And perhaps this is why Paul used an ambiguous phrase here. Perhaps the Gospel is there to make people obey by placing their faith in Jesus. Perhaps it is also there to make people more like Jesus, once they have placed their faith in him, and tasted and seen how good he is.

And this is affirmed in Paul’s description of hearers in v7: loved by God and called to be saints. We are not just loved, we are called to be holy. And we are not just called to be holy, but we are loved. This is a package deal, and we get it all in Jesus.

I was somewhat surprised to hear called to be saints this morning used in reference to unbelievers. I’m not sure if Paul meant it that way. But it does make sense, given that those whom he predestined he also called (8:30) is a part of the golden chain that predates conversion, and given that this predestination happened before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8 & 17:8). So while we who believe are called to be holy, it stands to reason that there are some who have not yet converted, but who are nonetheless also loved by God and called to be holy. If so, how does God show this love? And how does he call them to be holy? Paul tells us his thoughts on this in ch 10:

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?c And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

So we share the Gospel, and that calls people out of darkness into the kingdom of Light, and it shows people the love of God, as they hear what meets their greatest need.

And this is why grace and peace (v7) are distinctively Christian greetings. We proclaim grace to one another, because we know that it is by grace that we live and breathe. And we proclaim peace to one another, because this is what God has accomplished for us.  And this is not just the sit-down-and-rest-awhile peace of a half time show; it is the complete fulfillment of all our needs in Jesus. It is peace with ourselves and peace with others because we have peace with the creator and sustainer of the universe –and everything else is secondary.

Introduction: Romans 1:1-7

Church, Romans,

Here is my mind map of the first seven verses of Romans (ESV):

Romans1,1-7

Despite the fact that this is an introduction to the book, there are lots of cool things in this passage. You can check out some material to help through these verses here.

Here are some questions to help you think through these verses:

  1. Who is the letter from?

  2. How does he describe himself?

  3. What does he say about the gospel?

  4. What does he say about God’s Son? What is He, according to whom?

  5. What does he say about His apostles?

  6. Who is the letter to?

  7. What is the greeting?

  8. What is the overall context for this letter, personally, theologically and historically?

  9. How do you fit into that context?

  10. What is your responsibility in that context?

Once More into the Breach

Church, Romans, Thoughts, ,

Some time in the last couple months, I got wind that our local church would be studying through Romans in 2018.  Some may have groaned, but I have now looked forward to it from that time, and can’t wait to get started.  Some have said that God repeats lessons you don’t get the first time; and perhaps this is what God is doing with me and Romans. But despite the number of times I’ve been through this book, I still find something new that blows my mind each time, and I haven’t had enough of it yet.

My first formal Bible study, with Campus Ambassadors, was in Romans. They have a to-with-through model of ministry, so I co-taught the first quarter (by the school calendar at Oregon State University), then taught the second quarter myself (IIRC), then grabbed another student to do the third quarter.  We had gone through different materials by Howard Hendricks, like this more recent publication on inductive Bible study.  While Howard Hendricks has taught a lot of seminary students, his contribution to myself and my peers was to encourage and enable us to make careful study of the Bible a part of our normal layman lives. So it didn’t scare me to lead this study, since we were just looking at the text to see what it said.

My first formal Bible study in French was also the book of Romans, in Chambéry, France. The local church where we fellowshipped (while there studying French) started the study, and we joined.  It felt like trying to watch a ping-pong match without being able to follow the ball, but the difficulty of trying to understand French people discussing Romans in real time forced me to learn French more fluently, as well as being a part of encouraging their growth, and growing myself. By the end of our time there, I noticed that I was following and contributing more fluently, mostly because we were joined by another anglophone couple, who felt as lost as we had when we joined.

Near the end of our first term with Wycliffe, I led a (very) small group Bible study in our church in Nairobi, again in Romans. Most weeks we only had three of us, and we didn’t make it past chapter six or so, but it was good fellowship, and we got to take it as slow as we wanted (which I’ve found is critical to not feeling like you’re drinking from a fire-hose, in studying this book).

Earlier last year, DTS started an online class on Inductive Bible study, which I followed up with another online class on Romans 1-8. These were both pretty short courses, but could be a helpful overview if you are looking for that.

And in the spring of last year, a group of men from our local church finished a formal study (on manhood, of course), and decided to keep meeting, as they often do between official church classes. We decided to do a book, and that book was Romans. So I got to compile the questions I’d developed for the study in Nairobi, adapt it to a one-chapter-a-week (i.e., breakneck) pace, and extend it to the end of the book.   And I got to make a nice chart for chapter 5, and a genealogy to help follow chapter 9. But one thing I really enjoyed about this time through was that I basically came up with questions, and did some discussion leading, but it was mostly a bunch of guys studying God’s word. One of those guys even credits his conversion to follow-up on the first few chapters in that study. So I have been privileged to see God work through his word, without really being able to take credit for it myself.

Somewhat parallel with this last study, and something of a break from inductive Bible study, I started working through John Piper’s set of sermons on Romans, which he preached from April 1998 to December 2006. The 225(!) sermons are available as a single download as described here and here. This is a very careful exposition, spending sometimes multiple weeks on a single verse. And there is the added benefit that he continues to pastor his church through this series, so there are a number of tie-ins to church life (like one on small group Sunday, and another on an outdoor evangelism event), which grounds the study in realistic application. So it’s a bit like a multi-year marathon with a microscope in your hands. But I find that the long view requires a different perspective, which I have enjoyed. There is lots of digging down into a verse, then coming back up to remind us what it means in the broader perspective, before digging back down again, etc. Having not yet finished this, it remains the occasional backdrop to my exercise and road trip regimen.

Then this fall, BSF began a year in Romans. While I am not a fan of BSF, the guy who came to Christ in our Romans study earlier this year asked me to join him in doing it, and I couldn’t say no. Which meant that our whole family would be doing BSF this year, which is not a bad thing. And I also have been mindmapping it as we go (with freeplane, based on  freemind), so that has been a fun addition to the study. We’re about half way through the year now, as our local church is starting a year-long series on Romans.

I like this news not just because I get to do Romans again, but because we don’t just do sermons in our local church. We publish material with material and questions aimed at helping people do inductive Bible study, individually, in small groups, or in our community group Bible studies (aka Sunday school). You can follow along and download those studies as they come out here (or pick up a printed copy at church any time the week before the sermon, if you’re in the area). Practically, this means not only do we have sermons on Romans all year, but we also get to go through Romans in our Sunday morning Bible studies, and in our home groups whenever they meet throughout the week. We all get to think about Romans together, for the whole year!

Which brings me to why our local church is doing this, and why I’m so excited about it. Our pastor has been casting a vision to have the Gospel presented in each meeting we have, throughout all church ministries. While I can see that scaring some, I think the Romans focus will really help. Because Romans is focused on the Gospel, and hits hard what it is, and what it isn’t. Sometimes I hear people say things, and I wonder how clearly they understand the Gospel. With this study, we’ll be able to address these issues head on. Those who already have the Gospel can only get a firmer grip on it, and hopefully some people will grasp it for the first time. In all, saturating more people with the Gospel can only be a good thing.

And as an added synergy benefit, I got my son the first volume of Tim Keller’s Romans for You, his accessible non-commentary on Romans. I’m hoping to go through that with him this year, both to build on what we’re doing as a church and as a family, but also as a part of his discipleship leading up to a public testimony for him. Just another reason for me to be excited about what God has for us in Romans this year.

And to be clear, one thing I love about lay Bible study is that it doesn’t take a graduate degree to get something life-changing out of the Bible. Yes, I have a graduate degree, but it’s in linguistics, not theology, nor Bible. I took one quarter of Greek in college, which I didn’t finish (the quarter of Greek, not college). I have never taken a seminary class (unless you count the online ones mentioned above). So my point is that you can get a lot out of Romans (and again and again) without needing to be an expert first.

So the Gospel is “good news”, but is it just any good news? As Christians we talk about the Good News of Jesus Christ, which is a particular good news, and not just any news that might seem good from our perspective. So what are these things I hear, you ask? Rather than prejudge the multitude of opinions out there, I’ll pose a number of questions that I think Romans will help with:

  • Is the gospel about helping me live the way I want to?
  • Is the gospel about giving me blessing (materially, socially, and/or spiritually)?
  • Is the gospel about making me look good?
  • Is the gospel a card I sign, or a prayer I pray?
  • Is the gospel a set of teachings I should accept (or teach)?
  • Is the gospel a means to another end, like baptism or church membership?
  • Does everyone need the gospel (if not, who doesn’t)?
  • Is the gospel required for salvation (if so, from what)?
  • Does the gospel make me free of judgment, so I can sin as I like without consequences?
  • Will the gospel make me a better person?
  • Will the gospel make me accepted by people at church?
  • Will the gospel make me have more friends (or lose them)?
  • Will the gospel keep me from being poor (or from being rich)?
  • How does the gospel interact with what I do, feel, or choose?
  • Does the gospel require that I obey God?
  • What happens if I accept the gospel, then screw up something really bad (like cheat on my spouse)?
  • If I have screwed up something really bad (like cheated on my spouse), can I accept the gospel?

Anyway, I could go on, but I’ll not trifle with your patience. If any of the above questions are interesting to you, I encourage you to join us in studying through Romans this year. You can find the pace I’ll be taking in the scrolls (here again), and I’ll try to put some sort of drivel here on something like a weekly basis. I’d love to hear your thoughts as we go in the comments.

Reading about Africa

Commentary, Congo + Culture



There are lots of good books many of you have probably already read about this beloved continent, Out of Africa being one of them… (NO, the movie does not count!)

{Side Note: The first place Kent and I lived in Africa in 1999 was in Karen, about 1 mile from the historic home of Karen Blixen, incognito author of that book! Gorgeous place to fall in love with Africa, even if the encroaching capital city had changed the neighborhood a lot…}

Though you may not see them from your Starbucks table at the bookstore or on any billboards, there are two books on Africa definitely worth reading. Okay, I am a bit biased… They are written by two colleagues of mine and much of what they write gives insight into how our lives work day to day.

BOOK 1: (you know, Thing 1 and Thing 2? Maybe I read too much Dr. Seuss…)


Barbara and her husband precede us by a decade or two, so we have never met in person, but their stories give lots of humor and insight to the realities of working here. Of course our working strategies and details have changed a bit since then, but due to the history of this place there are things she was able to buy back then that we can no longer find here, like brown sugar. I have already read through it twice and still enjoy it. If you’re looking for a novel, this isn’t it, but it will give you a funny and clear picture of how things work here. She places the emphasis on “REAL” and I can vouch to you that it is just that!

BOOK 2:

(Yes, the two women are married to cousins.)

Linda is a dear friend of mine. When we first came to Africa 10 years ago she and her husband were working in the school administration where I was a volunteer teacher for missionary kids. We had great fun that year! One time I was trying to make an international phone call to interview for a teaching job back home the following year and Linda was sharing her office for this purpose. (All went well btw – call made, clear connection, questions answered and job taken…) As I turned to leave her office she was locking up behind me and we were chatting when my eyes caught something posted on the wall next to her desk. It looked like a cute stick drawing done by a young child. Slowly it dawned on me that I was not reading the child’s scrawl of a beloved student at the school… It said something like, “We miss you Nana.” With tears in my eyes I turned to Linda, “I thought it was excruciating to leave my friends and parents behind and come to Africa, but you left your grandchildren!” I can’t imagine how hard that must have been, but she did it for the Lord she loves. She did it with grace. And had fun too! Check out sweet Linda’s blog here: Quaint I Ain’t.