New Testament Blitz
December 7th: Acts 20:1-3, Romans 1-3
Here is the first video to help you see the big picture of Romans. Enjoy.
Watch: Romans 1-4 Bible Book Overview Video | BibleProject™
Romans explains how faith in Jesus justifies all people and creates a unified, multiethnic family and a path to righteousness.
bibleproject.com
- I find it interesting that this is the longest letter Paul wrote, I have to wonder why such a big letter unless it is to correct the division in the church? In particular see chapter 2, verse 1, this does not sound like a “you are doing everything right” type of statement. Are there other indications this might be a letter of instructions and or correction? Are there moments of joy and being complementary? Would there be a reason for both? On a side note, I love the sarcasm Paul uses in his letters to make a point.
- I do not take Paul's statements of the goodness and knowledge of the church at Rome to be sarcastic. I understand Paul's boldness to be a matter of finding it in keeping with the grace which Paul has received to instruct from the Torah those who may have made very different academic choices from his own. There are certainly some verses in the letter which might be understood as correctional rather than instructional. Understanding them so does not seem to me to fit the rhetorical style of this letter. With the exception of the greetings at the end and perhaps the introduction, I believe the style of the letter to be geared for a general reader such as myself, rather than for any group of readers. In the RSV, verse 2.1 includes a ' whoever you are' which I assume invites just such an understanding.
- Let me clarify, I don't take that statement of greeting to be sarcastic either, but merely wisdom when writing a little. Paul does have sarcasm through his writings, which I enjoy seeing in context, but this is not one of them. That statement was a comment simply as a side note, something I was reflecting on as a whole. Paul does a wonderful job of instructing, correcting, making his points that always reflect back on Jesus...and for his audience they would have known instantly what he was doing. I wonder if we miss the point of Paul, and Jesus at times, due to being separated from the culture in which these were written? This letter must have struck a note for the original hearers, reading it came later, to have been passed on to other churches. Paul is setting a tone of grace and not judgement, a rather reliance on Christ that both the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians needed to hear.