Romans 1:18-23

“The wrath of God,” the apostle writes. Lest we begin with a foundation of sand, we must immediately recognize that this “wrath of God” that Paul writes about is not a loss of temper or self-control, as we might consider wrath to be in human terms. When we hear the word “wrath,” it is so easy to consider this wrath to be like a child striking out if he doesn’t get what he wants, equated to our own emotional response of anger, but rather, what he evokes is a holy and righteous judgment. It’s so important for us to recognize this, because in equating it with an irrational loss of temper, it’d be such a small step to use this statement to justify our own temptation to anger, to bitterness, to violence. “Judgment” the apostle frequently writes of concerning the Lord, evoking instead the image of a judge determining the sentence of a criminal who is standing trial for wrongs committed; and much like that same judge, taking no pleasure in the sentence when it is announced. We must remember the words of the Lord Himself, through the prophet Ezekiel, “‘Do I ever will the death of a lawless man,’ says the Lord, ‘for My will is for him to turn away from the evil way and live.” (Ezekiel 18:23) Most judges find no pleasure in sentencing a criminal, whereas we, if transfigured to our own emotional response, take much pleasure in lashing out against one who has done wrong. This is not the Lord “getting even” with someone who has wronged Him, but rather, the Lord’s revelation of truth and power in confronting those who reject Him.

I find it very interesting that Paul had just written about the promises of salvation and hope, the power of the gospel to save, and immediately turns to teaching about punishment. Consider for a moment what this says about their culture, and how true it still rings in ours. Think of how much more strongly we respond to the threat of punishment than the promise of glad tidings. Why does anyone obey the speed limit? Is it because they are appreciative of the safety afforded them that everyone is lawfully abiding by this same limit; or is it the threat of receiving a hefty fine for breaking it? Think of our culture’s definition of fidelity in marriage. The majority of married people would probably confess, if asked anonymously, that they are not faithful in their marriage because of the happiness of their marriage, but instead because of the fear of getting caught if they’re not. It’s this whole mentality of “it’s only wrong if you get caught” that has managed to seep it’s way into our church culture as well. I see it all the time in our discussion, though in various wordings; this question, “what’s the bare minimum that I can do and still be saved?” While no one would directly word it that way, it’s something that you can read between the lines and see frequently. “Can a Christian watch (insert random TV show/movie here)?” “Can a Christian drink beer?” A big one in recent years, “now that it’s legal, can a Christian smoke marijuana?” Put a way that has been the topic of numerous arguments and blogs, debates, entire websites, “can a Christian lose their salvation?” What are we asking when we ask that question? Can we lose salvation? How far can we push the envelope? What sins can we still enjoy and be saved? I would argue that anyone that would ask that question is not “saved,” since salvation is a path which leas us into righteousness. I wouldn’t say that a Christian can or can’t “lose their salvation”, but rather, if your focus in salvation is what you can still get away with, then you should be worried. To the one whose focus is on if they can “lose their salvation,” I would admonish them to read the words of the apostle who taught us to constantly “evaluate yourself to see that you are in the faith.” Someone who focuses on obeying the Lord’s command to attaining to the “righteousness of God” never asks that question, because the answer is a given; however, when we continue to live in sin, pushing the envelope as far as we can, what we are really saying is, “how much shame can I attach to His name and He still ‘save’ me.”

And, consider to whom Paul is writing this warning. “The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Having already disclosed that it is possible to attain to the righteousness of God through the grace of the Lord and the Holy Spirit, Paul writes this as a warning to those who act otherwise. To those whose lives are still characteristic of unrighteousness and ungodliness. To those who reject the freedom from sin offered by the Holy Spirit. Further, he is stating that there is a two-fold way in which this can happen. The ways of error are many, but there is only one way of truth. “In all ungodliness and unrighteousness” he writes, thereby decrying not only those who don’t believe, but also those whose lives don’t reflect that belief. Those who proclaim the name “Christian,” but whose lives don’t characterize that belief. See, it’s so easy to verbally proclaim that we believe, and even to mentally assent to that belief, but as our Lord Jesus taught us, “you will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16). Regardless of how good of Christianity we speak, if our lives aren’t images of that faith, then it is lip service, it is a chasing after the wind. There is no salvation in a unchanged life, because that is a life that has not been touched by the Holy Spirit, or a life that has quenched the same Spirit. The fruit of a life in the Spirit is a life of peace, contentment, compassion, love, mercy, forgiveness, charity; a life which places the well-being of even the lowliest of people above our own. It is a life worthy of bearing the name of a God who took on flesh and was crucified for a people who hated and despised Him, who cursed and mocked Him. Whose last words, in reference to those who were doing those very things, was “forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

“Those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” So often teachers are confident, which is important. But, they are confident to the point of arrogance. And that to their detriment. It’s important that all of us heed the proverb, “Iron sharpens iron, and a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” (Proverbs 27:17). And, being the people that we are, when we are confronted with something we don’t agree with, our first reaction is often to silence it. And that is exactly what Paul is teaching here. He’s warning them that the wrath of God will be revealed against those who continue living in ungodliness and unrighteousness instead of seeking the righteousness of God, and those who teach those same things. Anyone who teaches others that holiness and righteousness are unattainable or undesirable; that none of it is necessary for salvation, that we can continue on our own roads in life without turning to the Lord; those people will be subject to the wrath of God, as well as those who follow in their example. Remember, Jesus Himself warned that “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6). See, the Lord doesn’t expect perfection from us, but He expects us to strive for perfection; otherwise He would never have said, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48). We will sin, but we must constantly strive for perfection, and yet, so many teach that the Lord doesn’t only expect us to sin, but rather accepts us sinning. But, where in Scripture do we find that? I see multiple places where He tells us that if we do happen to fall into sin, He is faithful to forgive us, but nowhere does He tell us that we should aspire to that forgiveness. To the contrary, He warns us that “anyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34) but that He alone is the truth that can set us free. But, there are so many who teach that sin is not only tolerated, but accepted. John warns us that “if we say we have fellowship with Him and continue to walk in darkness, we lie and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:6) and further teaches us that “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth.” (3 John 1:4). To walk in the truth, to walk in the light, is to actively seek this “righteousness of God” that Paul had referenced already.

Paul ties all of these “ways of error” together. “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them,” he says, “for God has shown it to them.” The knowledge of God Himself has been placed within each one of us. And while some embrace that knowledge, others have chosen to suppress it. But, when we suppress that knowledge, we will cling to any other worldly wisdom that we can attain. Man was created to worship, and we must have something we can worship. If that something is not God, then we will ultimately find something else to worship. We make idols of psychiatrists, of plants, of scientists, of self-help gurus, of anything that we can that will help us ease the emptiness we find when we suppress the knowledge of God. Paul tells us that all of the evidence of the existence of God that we have ever needed has existed since the beginning of the world; the glories of creation itself are evidence of His existence. In the Psalms, we read that “the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows the creation of His hands.” (Psalm 18:2), and thus, even the claims of ignorance are immediately rebuked. Rather, some, of their own free will, deny Him, and in their searching to do so, ultimately find something else to worship instead. They choose the creation over the creator; either through denial of His existence through finding other things to worship, or mocking His existence by proclaiming Him while still “twisting the grace of the Lord into sensuality” (Jude 1:4), all the while, trying to silence those with whom they do not agree.

We must always be very careful of this. The enemy is very subtle, he would almost never approach a believer with cloven hooves and a pitchfork, as the cartoons so often show him. No, rather, he twists the minor things in Scripture, things so subtle that it’s hard to distinguish. He tells us that we can never be holy and righteous, so why try. He tells us that no matter what our actions, good or wicked, it will have no bearing over our eternity, so we should enjoy ourselves now. He tells us that God has already determined who is and isn’t saved, and that we should never attempt to try to please God. He would never say “renounce God,” but rather He would say, “God loves you no matter what, you believe right? Surely, if you believe, you won’t die; don’t let anyone tell you that you should work towards your salvation.” He twisted Scripture in the garden, he twisted Scripture in the desert, and he’s still twisting Scripture today. He has us convinced that the Holy Spirit is no longer able to work miracles; that to love others, we must first focus on loving ourselves more. He would teach us to accept the teachings of the age, to “get with the times,” and to make Scripture fit over the foundation of the world, like latex stretching across a model. The Romans found their suppression of the knowledge of God in creeping things, and four legged animals, in birds; we find ours in science, technology, family, jobs, celebrities. We look to politicians for our salvation and find our contentment in the ledgers of accountants; while looking to musicians, actors, sports stars as role models. There’s a reason that someone we look up to is called, in our culture, an “idol.”

Consider these questions for a moment. When you need to find an answer to something, where do you seek that answer? Do you pray? Do you look to Scripture? Do you turn to the Church? Or, do you google it? What is the first thing you do in the morning? Do you awaken, and begin to pray? Do you awaken and look to the Scriptures? Or do you awaken and immediately seek the comfort of a digital screen, checking social media and email via a cell phone? Who are your gods? Where do you turn for solace, for comfort, for answers?

We too often turn to the idols of the age and allow them to control our lives, not recognizing the truth with which the apostle Paul wrote the phrase, “thinking themselves wise, they became fools.” We live in the most narcissistic, the most self-confident, the most independent, and the most depressed age of all time. We consider that we no longer need the Lord to provide for us, because we can provide for ourselves, and yet, is that true in the slightest bit? If so, then why is the most independent and self-confident generation of human beings also the most pessimistic and depressed? Could it be that we have no hope because no part of our lives require faith, which is the “assurance of things hoped for?” Could it be that considering everything that we think we know, we don’t really know anything and have allowed ourselves to become blinded to the truth that could truly set us free?

We must constantly seek our strength, our comfort, our wisdom in the Lord; growing fully mature in Him, and attaining to the righteousness of God, my brothers and sisters. Never let anyone silence the word of the Lord, never be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, my brethern, whether your opposition be the staunchest atheist or the most amiable church goer.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved brothers and sisters.

Romans 1:17

Herein the humble apostle calls to mind a very important admonishment, coupled with the greatest of reminders. This gospel, he writes, the gospel of Jesus, is the power to save, not merely from the punishment of sin, but to free us from our enslavement to it. The power of the gospel is the power to be, to live, and to walk in true righteousness. It is not merely a status symbol or some divine membership card; it is a constant state of communion with the Lord. Through our obedience to the gospel, we are led down the path of the blameless and the upright. We are freed from our bondage to fleshy desires and worldly goals, and are able to become, by the God’s grace, truly righteous. But, then Paul reminds them equally that, while we are able through the power of the gospel to become truly righteous, it is not our righteousness, but rather that we are able to attain to the righteousness of God. Paul recognized that without that reminder that it would be easy for one to become “puffed up,” and self-righteous. Self-righteousness is self-defeating, for the moment you become self-righteous, you fall through pride from righteousness.

To me, it’s important to recognize that Paul does in fact state that we can attain to the righteousness of God while we are on earth, because there are so many who teach otherwise. There are so many who teach that all of humanity is depraved and that nothing that we can ever accomplish could be pleasing to the Lord. Paul warns us of people who teach similar things in his letter to Titus, when he writes, “to the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” (Titus 1:15-16). See, there are those who teach that we can never be righteous here on earth, and Paul says that any who feel that way are unbelieving, denying the power of the Lord to make one righteous. Through the power of the gospel and obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can obtain the true righteousness in this life, however, it is not the righteousness that we acquire on our own, but rather the righteousness that the Lord guides us to, the righteousness of God.

See, all too often, there are those who claim that demands of righteousness and obedience are “works based salvation.” But those who claim that don’t truly understand the concept of this “righteousness of God” that Paul is writing about. They imagine that salvation is a ladder, with Jesus sitting idly at the top, and to reach Him, we must climb the rungs of this ladder to get to the point of being “saved.” To them, attaining to the top of the ladder is the point of salvation. To one who truly understands this righteousness though, salvation is the ladder itself, and we must climb it, but we will never do that alone. Jesus reminds us, “Behold I am with you, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20). See, to the truly righteous one, it is obvious that we turn in faith to the Lord and “working out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) we begin to climb that ladder, with Jesus there helping us every step of the way. We choose to climb a step, but only through our faith in the Lord will the Holy Spirit help us to actually be able to take that step.

We must understand that, when we are walking in the faith, we MUST grow. There must be growth and maturity. An infant is content to crawl, babble, consume milk; but eventually that infant must learn to walk, to talk, to eat solid foods. So it is spiritually. Far too many people consider turning in the faith to be the finish line in their walk, and are perfectly content to remain spiritual infants all the days of their lives. But, there must be growth, and the only way that we can grow spiritually is through obedience to the Father, through obedience to His commands. We must recognize that our turning to the faith is not the finish line, but rather, the starting line, in the race. This is what Paul means when he tells young Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). He is referring to the suffering, the labor, the work that went into maintaining the faith. It’s this synergy of “God working through me.” (Philippians 2:13).

Paul then refers us to the rest of the Scriptures, which at the time would have been the Old Testament. He states that this righteousness of God has been revealed “from faith to faith.” This evokes this idea of the “traditions handed down” (2 Thessalonians 2:15) from generation to generation. It shows that this righteousness has been handed down, and then each generation’s ability to adhere to it has been displayed through mighty works of faith. Elijah was a man like us, but through his prayer and mighty faith, he was able to make fire rain down from the heavens. We see this displayed all throughout the Book of Hebrews, example after example of men and women who were not righteous, were made righteous through their faith, and then their faith grew into obedience. We see Noah, who believed, and because of his belief was given the revelation that the world was to be flooded and told to build an ark to save him and his family. And we see the instruction to build it come directly from the Lord. It was not his sheer faith which saved him, nor was it his sheer works, it was works in response to faith. It was obedience to the commands of the Lord. The Lord said build, he built, and through obeying what the Lord had commanded him, he was saved. We see it with Joshua, who believed on the Lord, and when the Lord commanded him to take a small army and walk around a city for seven days, on the seventh day, because of his obedience, the Lord caused the city to fall. If it weren’t for his faith, the Lord would never have given over the city, but were it not for his works, then also the Lord would never have handed over the city. We see that in the story of Israel, who were commanded to go and take the “promised land,” opted instead to send spies, and then were frightened by what the spies reported. Because they doubted the Lord, He refused to give them the land that He had promised to them. They had faith, but no works to evidence that faith. Through our works and deeds, we can either prove our faith in the Lord or show our disbelief, and each of those things are things which the Lord provides for us as the opportunity to “test to see that we are in the faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5). If we are never able to obtain this “righteousness of God” while here, then how do we respond to the commands to “be holy, as I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16). How do we obey the will of God, which the humble apostle has told us is our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Through obedience to the commands of God, we are able, with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, to obtain through grace what God is in essence, the righteousness of God. We could never become god, as some religions teach, but we can “partake of the divine nature” of God, which is the righteousness of God.

Paul ends this passage by hearkening back to Habakkuk. “The just shall live by faith.” The word alone does not appear in this passage, in any translation of Scripture, in either the quote here or in the original prophecy of Habakkuk. It is this quote, in fact, which shows harmony between the Old and New Testaments, and to add the word alone puts them at odds, because all throughout the Old Testament, we see people who, through faith, exercised that faith through actions. It is important to understand that when Paul quotes this, he is explaining that faith is not a mental or emotional assent, but rather, a way of life. The just (dikaios, literally translated “righteous”) are not only those who have intellectually accepted that Jesus is the Lord, but those who live righteously in accordance to those beliefs. Consider Paul’s warning to the church at Corinth, “Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom? Do not be deceived …neither fornicators …idolators …adulterers …homosexuals …thieves …covetous …drunkards …will inherit the kingdom. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified…” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Truly consider what he is saying in this passage. He does not say, “such were some of you, but you were forgiven, so feel free to continue.” He does not say “such were some of you, but now you’ve got an accountability partner, so we expect progress.” No, rahter, he says, “such were some of you, but you were sanctified, justified,” freed from the power that those sins had over you. And how could we ever break free from those trangressions if not through faith? And not a faith that says, “yeah, I believe,” but a faith that becomes a way of life, a faith that leads us to live righteously in accordance with those beliefs. And the mistake that we make is thinking that either there is no need for that faith, or the mistake of thinking that through our sheer willpower, we can attain those things without the help of the Holy Spirit. If human willpower alone were enough, the gyms would be just as busy in March as they are in January. That’s why it’s ever so important to strictly heed Paul’s admonishment to the church in Thessalonica to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Every time we face temptation, we must first begin with prayer. No action that can not be preceded by healthy prayer is worth doing. Try to recite the Lord’s prayer before you log onto a pornographic website, or watch an episode of a licentious television show. Try to recite the Jesus prayer before you pour yourself a shot of whiskey. Whatever you can do to focus your mind back on the Lord, that will allow you the power to defeat whatever temptation you face. That’s why the apostle teaches that we “constantly renew our mind daily” (Romans 12:2) for each day we fight temptation, and we must keep our mind focused on “things that are above, not things of the earth.” (Colossians 3:2). That is our responsibility. The Lord provides the growth, but we must plant and water the seed. The Lord does 9/10ths of the work, but He will never do all ten. He will tell us the flood is coming, tell us to build an ark, and give us the blueprints for the proper construction, but we must still do the work of building it.

“Unless the Lord builds a house, they who labor do so in vain, unless the Lord guards a city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” (Psalm 127:1). Notice in this passage, there are still those who labor, and those who watch. Though it is the Lord who builds and guards it, it is His work done through others. So too with our faith. We must attain to the righteousness of God, but we must recognize that it is the righteousness of God, not of man. He has given us the forgiveness of our transgressions, and the ability to free ourselves from them; but we must still strive to fight against them. Without Him, we could never free ourselves from the iniquity of our sinfulness, but through Him, we have the power to win the war, we must bring ourselves to be willing to fight in that war. God will never reach down and completely remove sin from us. He will, however, give us the means to defeat it when we choose to fight against it.

My brethern, we must always be careful of any theology which teaches that forgiveness of sin is license to continue in it. Stating that we will make mistakes is biblical, stating that making mistakes is acceptable, is heretical. Which is why we must return to the Lord in heartfelt repentance each time that we do make a mistake and fall into sin. Likewise, we must be guarded against any theology which states that disobedience is acceptable, or that any work required on our part makes grace anything but a gift. Grace is the gift that we accept that allows us to climb the ladder at all. We must be equally guarded against any theology that tells us that we must climb it in order to reach God. There will and must be works, and there will and must be righteousness; however, each of those things must come from the Lord alone. To think that we can be made righteous by our works as well as thinking that we must not be made righteous at all are equally heretical. Likewise, thinking that sin is allowed is equally heretical to thinking that we must attain righteousness before we are able to come to God.

There is a very narrow path that we must walk, being led by the Lord, and straying neither to the right nor to the left. When confronted with temptation, we can neither give into it, nor can we think that we can conquer it with our own willpower; for the end of each of those is the same. We must rather flee temptation the moment it appears, and run in prayer to the only One who has the power to truly resist it. In all things, at all times; we must truly seek the righteousness of God, by the grace of God, for the glory of God.

Romans 1:16

Paul defies all expectations with this statement about the gospel, and it’s interesting to focus for a moment on how exactly he words this. The apostle who so frequently is found to be reveling in and boasting about the gospel, boasting in the cross itself, here proclaims not that he glories in the gospel, nor boasts in it, but rather, that he “is not ashamed of” it. What’s truly sad to me is how powerful this statement is in terms of our own culture as well. It is equally powerful to us as it was to his readers then. See, the Romans to whom he was writing were accustomed to the “Roman way,” which was the worldly way; worldly things, worldly goals. They found their success measured by wealth, prestige, power. Paul recognized that the Romans held the emperor in the highest esteem, lifting him up to godhood, and that to this people, Jesus was a Man to be held in the lowest esteem. The Son of a carpenter, living as a vagabond, holding little to no material wealth, hated, reviled. Even in His death, He was mocked, spat upon, cursed, and then crucified, hanged on a tree between two common criminals. To the faithful, Paul and the believers knew the truth about Jesus, about who He is and what He accomplished upon the cross. But, think about it from the perspective of unbelievers for a moment. To the unfaithful and unbelieving, Jesus was a shame, a mockery of a prophet. We read in the Gospel, “Likewise, the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, ‘He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said “I am the Son of God.”‘” (Matthew 27:41-43). We read that “even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.” (Matthew 27:44). See, it’s to this perspective that Paul, once a highly esteemed student of Gamaliel the Elder (a leading authority on the Sanhedrin), as well as a citizen of Rome, writes that he is “not ashamed” of the gospel. And that, because to the non-believers of Rome, to pay honor to a homeless, penniless vagabond would have been something that would bring about great shame.

And, what disturbs me is that our world looks frighteningly like the Romans empire in Paul’s day. So often, our definition of success is measured by our financial accomplishments rather than our spiritual growth. Our worth is measured by our accomplishments. Our very existence is defined by if we are a “productive member of our society.” And then we elevate others to the level of gods, constantly seeking our salvation in the lives of other people, of politics, of government. We elevate them to the level of gods and base our happiness on our levels of comfort rather than our relationship with the Lord. And then, we turn and apply those same principles to our theology and suddenly, the gospel begins to look very similar to the American dream. Our Jesus no longer demands obedience, no longer demands denial, no longer demands asceticism. Our gospel removes the demand for repentance and our religion removes the truth that any faith, in absentia of the works which are the fruit of that faith, is dead. The very asceticism that Jesus demanded when He admonished us to “deny yourselves, pick up your cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24) is removed from our theology. In fact, it’s argued against by our most esteemed theologians. The sacrifice that Jesus demanded when He taught us that “whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:26) is erased. The denial He commands when He warns us not to “store up treasures for ourselves here on earth” is removed; because those very commands don’t fit into this image that we have of the gospel, the American gospel of blessing after blessing with neither cost nor sacrifice. Bonhoeffer writes in The Cost of Discipleship, “If there is no element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh, we shall find it hard to train for the service of Christ. When the flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation.” Regretfully, this mindset is shunned and debated, argued against, by many who share in the gospel of the age.

The problem with that is this: those principles, those commands, that is the gospel that was given to us by God the Word, our beloved Jesus. And we must never be ashamed of it. Even when it doesn’t make sense, we must not be ashamed of it. Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians that “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and that “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27). So, it makes perfect sense that the truth would never make sense to those who are not of the faith, and yet, we still must remain unashamed. That is exactly what Paul models for us here. Though he knows that he will be mocked and shamed, insulted and slandered for his allegiance to Jesus, he still declares, “I will not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus.” See, the biggest problem with the gospel of the age is this; it is not a gospel. It is pleasant and tolerant, and appeals to everything which is wicked inside of us, but it has no power to save anyone, thus it is not truly “good news,” but rather “false news.” And false news always sounds good to those who are seeking it, but to those seeking the truth, it is not good news by any means. Paul explains that it is the power of the gospel of Jesus alone which has the power to save, and that offer stands for any who truly believe in it’s power.

He then affirms what he had previously stated, that salvation, though chronologically was first for the Jews, is equally for the Greek. There is a very important statement which is being made in his wording here, and one which we so often overlook. See, Paul, having already made clear that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, he turns around and places the Jew first and then the Greek second. It could be ever so easy to misunderstand this as to think that this is a matter of priority, and yet, it is much more likely that he chose this solely for the purpose of historical accuracy. In his stating that the Lord’s grace was offered first to the Jew and secondly to the Greek in no way imparts favor to the Jew, it merely shows that Israel was, in fact, granted this opportunity first, a fact which even Jesus affirmed. When the woman of Canaan sought help for her daughter, initially Jesus had replied, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24). And then, upon seeing the faith of the woman, He ignored her heritage and healed the daughter (Matthew 15:31). I would liken this, in our own lives, to one who may have turned to the faith and been baptized before another. If one person was baptized 20 years ago and another 15 years ago, which baptism carries advantage over another? Does the one who was baptized 20 years ago, though he received His grace first, have advantage over one who was baptized 15 years ago? Of course not. Though the one received grace chronologically before the other, each are equal in the grace received of the Lord. Thus, the offer of salvation to the Jews, chronologically first, holds no advantage over the offer to the Gentiles, though received later.

My brethern, we must never be ashamed of the gospel of our beloved Jesus, nor allow the twisted gospel of the age to lead us astray. His calls to obedience, to denial of self, to holiness; many are the commands of the Lord that the gospel of the age would seek to censor from our learnings. There are many who would seek, as Satan did in the garden, to twist these commands, through whatever formulae and guile, “wise words” and cunning, they can garner, to make the commands of the gospel mean whatever they choose. They would twist the Scripture to remove His commands and to say that only this elect group of people, this “elect,” are able to receive His grace. Much as the Jews of Paul’s time did, they would decry “only the elect of God can be saved,” and that to their own detriment. Many are the heresies which have entered our Church, and we must be fully guarded against them. The gospel alone is the power of God unto salvation, and that gospel is offered unto all who will receive it. And that choice is a choice which must be freely made, for that choice, according to our Lord, must come at a price. We must always count the cost of the work of salvation in our lives and recognize that the work of that salvation begins, not ends, with faith. As St Maximus the Confessor teaches us, “Do not say that faith in Christ alone can save you, for this is not possible if you do not attain love for Him, which is demonstrated by deeds. As for mere faith: ‘The demons also believe and tremble’ (James 2:19). The action of love consists in heartfelt good deeds toward one’s neighbor, magnanimity, patience, and sober use of things.” In adhering to the Lord’s command to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all you soul, and all your might,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself,” our love must be manifest in actions which would display that love, thereby evidencing our faith. As John teaches us, “let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18). Thus, the love which begets from faith is the love that produces action, as Maximus so clearly stated. Our love should be a love which none are able to question, and that love can only come from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

“We read that ‘the flesh is weak,’ and thereby soothe our conscience at times. Yet, we also read that ‘the spirit is strong’ (Matthew 26:41). For both expressions occur in the same sentence. Flesh is an earthly material. Spirit is a heavenly one. Why then are we so prone to make excuses for ourselves? Why do we offer our weak part as our defense? Should we not rather look to our strong part? Why shouldn’t it be that the earthly yields to the heavenly? Since the spirit is stronger than the flesh, being of a nobler origin, it is our own fault if we follow the weaker of the two.” -Tertullian

I read a great message the other day. It was a story of a priest who was offered a cigarette. The priest graciously refused and the person who offered it to him asked if he considered smoking to be a sin. After trying unsuccessfully to persuade him to have a cigarette, the man finally stopped and the priest said, “each time you go to light a cigarette, repeat the Lord’s prayer first.” The man replied “praying before having a smoke somehow doesn’t work,” to which the priest replied, “so, better not to start anything that cannot be preceded by untroubled prayer.” It was such a great message to me, because so often, we approach life considering the weaknesses that we have, rather than the strength that we have access to. So many times, we fall victim to the passions of the flesh because rather than focusing on the power to resist those passions that we have in the Holy Spirit, we focus on the excuses that would lead us into those very passions. In accepting our weaknesses, we actually glorify them. The enemy finds that we already have our excuse planned out and he exploits it by making the excuse the central point in the spiritual battle.

Imagine, though, if we were to keep the Spirit as the central point of the struggle instead. Imagine if we, like the priest above, preceded each action with prayer, which would set our minds on the Lord and keep our minds focused on the Him rather than whatever sin we are about to commit. Consider how meditating on the Lord being crucified for our sins would help us to crucify those sins themselves, those passions that can lead us to fall.

Consider how, rather than giving the power to the weakness of the flesh, we should instead follow the guidance of the Spirit, which is the stronger of the two. Rather than approaching any situation focusing on the excuses for our failures, perhaps we should begin to enter those situations focusing on the strength that can prevent us from failing.

Romans 1:13-15

Here we see the true humility and degree of servitude of the great apostle, that though his desire was great to visit Rome and impart on them “some spiritual gift,” to do the work of the kingdom, he still fully submitted to the will of the Lord. His personal desire was to go to Rome, and yet, he submitted by realizing that he must first accomplish God’s will elsewhere, doing the work that God had given him among the other Gentile nations first. And yet, notice that he never questions this will. Not even in lip service to placate his readers does he say “though I know not why.” He never says “for some reason,” or implies that he was be better suited to service with them than any others. It would be so easy to question, to think, why would God hinder him from going to so great and mighty of a nation as Rome. No, he never once questions this, but rather embraces open-heartedly, the plans of the Lord for his ministry. In doing so, not only does he display his own faith, but also sets forth a great example for all of us. For how often do we ourselves determine what is important, and determine that it should be our will being done, in spite of anyone else, even the Lord Himself? And yet, life doesn’t always go according to our plans. Things often come up that impede our plans, that change or cancel them completely, and rather than abiding in the Lord’s will, we question it, we argue it, we refuse to accept it, even slandering the very One whom we claim to be attempting to obey. We get so focused on the work of the kingdom, we forsake the Lord of the kingdom. The work, the deeds, the very things which we are working on, become an idol in our hearts, and anything that interferes with it, we consider to be wickedness, even when it is the Lord’s will. I think of the number of times throughout Scripture that Paul wants to go somewhere and the Spirit is like “nope, not right now.” I think of David wanting to rebuild the temple and the Spirit saying, “Actually, your son is going to build it.” For us, it could be a missions trip that we want to go on, and the flight gets cancelled, or a particular service that we’re late to because of a flat tire. Perhaps we’re late to a Bible study because a friend needs help with something; or on the way to a men’s group you see a homeless man and realize that he needs fellowship and a meal. See, we tend to get so caught up in our own schedules and agendas that we forget fully about the rest of the world, and when that happens, oftentimes the Lord will offer us reminders to slow down and pay attention to what’s going on outside of our own little bubble.

And while it’s not that those outside of our own little bubble are less important, rather that they are equally important. Paul stresses here, “it’s not that I am forsaking you, I do strongly desire to be there, but this is the Lord’s will now.” He points out, “that I might have some fruit among you as well.” See, he didn’t want them to think that he was apathetic to their needs, or that they might receive the “spiritual leftovers,” rather that he was in fact strongly desiring to be there among them doing the work of the kingdom. However, he also wants them to understand that all are equally valuable in our Lord Jesus. In his letter to Galatia, he writes that “there is neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28) and to Colossae he writes “there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.” (Colossians 3:11). At once assuring, and simultaneously humbling them, he wants them to understand that while he wasn’t ignoring them, neither was he going to forsake any other nation that the Lord had sent him to in the name of rushing to them first. In the Lord, all are equally, there is neither partiality nor judgment, and, Peter teaches us in the Book of Acts, “God shows no partiality, but in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:34-35). See, it’s this idea that the things which we consider meaningful are useless in the eyes of the Lord, and that will be reflected in His will. We consider things like wealth, power, status to be of importance. But to the Lord, all are equal. The rich lawyer in the pew and the hungry man in the street are equal; the wealthy entrepreneur and the poor beggar are of the same value to Him; no ethnic, economic, social group is more important than any other in Christ. And this was important for the church in Rome to understand, because Rome was the superpower of Biblical times. They were the Roman empire, and it would’ve been so easy not only for outsiders, but for they themselves, to place themselves on this pedestal. And Paul here in not only encouraging them that he will be coming, but is also subtly humbling them so that this mindset never comes to fruition within the church.

“I am a debtor, both to Greeks and barbarians.” The word barbarian here is used by Greeks as a reference to anyone who is not Greek, literally, “one who speaks a language not known by another.” It’s the same word used in the Book of Acts translated “natives” in reference to the people of Malta (Acts 28:1-2). Paul here is stating that he is equally indebted to the Greeks, to non-Greeks, indeed to all who are believers, to all who are children of God. All ethnicities, all economic classes, from the wisest elder to the lowliest layman, anyone with faith in the Lord he owes a debt of gratitude, for his only boast is in the Lord, and thus the very purpose of his life is indebted equally to all who believe.

He concludes by stating that with all that is in him, he is willing to undergo, nay, longs to undergo, the task of preaching the gospel to Rome, although he knows the dangers that await him there. He was longing and praying to go into a city, the home of the Roman empire itself, facing all the wickedness and impiety that was there, regardless of the circumstances, knowing that he also may, and most likely would, face execution at the hands of the Romans.

We must also be prepared for what the gospel may cost us. We have to remember that the gospel isn’t a popular message, the Bible isn’t a well liked book, and Jesus wasn’t a well liked Man. In fact, He was so not-well-liked that they executed Him. We should expect no less, that way, if we receive less, we remain grateful to the Lord for the mercy that He has shown us. See, in our generation, we’ve gotten so used to “religious liberty” that I fear that when Jesus bids us to “count the cost,” we may think of the friends that we may lose, or the names that we may be called, and consider that the highest sacrifice we must make. Then we hear of someone losing their job because of their convictions and consider that to be like contemporary martyrdom. And, my fear with that, is that we have lowered our expectation of sacrifice so much that our fear of offending someone’s emotions has become the standard with which we judge our own conviction. We can teach someone about the love and mercy of Jesus, but never teach any of what He commanded of us, never teach any of the sins that He warned us about, never teach anything that might make someone uncomfortable. See, when we count the cost and consider that our faith may cost us our life, then worrying about losing our job seems kind of silly, but when we consider losing a friend the largest sacrifice, then suddenly the idea of dying for our faith becomes almost laughable.

See, our generation has taught us that to offend someone else’s sensiblities tramples on their rights, so we must not teach anything that might “hurt” someone to hear it, which, in case you hadn’t noticed, is about 80% of Scripture. The entire point of the Scripture is to point out how unworthy we are so that we would recognize our need for a Savior. It’s important to point out how much someone needs a Savior if you’re not allowed to tell them that they’ve made a mistake, that they are sinful. See, we must forsake this cultural groundwork and understand that to obey the Lord’s will is going to cost us in this life. “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did they speak of the false prophets before you.” (Luke 6:26). We must be renewed in our convictions and not let the fear of consequences silence the Lord’s offer to the world of salvation. If I see a child about to run into a busy street and do not scream for someone to stop him, I would be thought to be inhuman; how can I not apply that same principle to thoughts of that same child suffering for all eternity in a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42); a place of “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41); a place where “the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44). Worse than any of those physical descriptions, a place removed from the presence of God.

We must go, my brothers and sisters. We must first and foremost, live the gospel; and we must preach the gospel, showing no partiality or judgment, for all are equally worthy in the eyes of the Lord, who desires that “none should perish, but that all would turn in repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9). We must preach the gospel to all, letting neither race, creed, financial status, neither lifestyle, nor anything else sway to whom we teach the word. And we can never be intimidated by the world to silence. By our deeds and works we must show our righteousness, so that when they accuse us of evil and wickedness, they are mocked, not we. And, we must do it all in sincere compassion and love. To love the Lord and to love your neighbor are the same commandment, and we would do well to remember that, for every man and woman is formed in the image of the Lord. As the Lord has taught us, whatever we do to the least of men, we do to Him.

Serve the poor, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, and teach the gospel. Maybe the world is right, perhaps you are infringing on their right not to believe, their religious liberty to not have religion. Or, maybe you are giving them their first real chance to truly believe. Maybe the gospel is more appealing to the unbeliever when the person preaching it is living it, obediently living the life that Jesus calls us to live, instead of merely lecturing someone on the does and don’t of Scripture. There are many sins that are forbidden, and we must never compromise on that, but there are many commands to compassion as well, to loving the Lord’s creation the same way as we love ourselves, and you can’t forsake either in the name of the other.

I pray that the Holy Spirit would truly guide us to lives lived truly holy and righteous, compassionate and grace-filled; lives that are truly worthy of bearing the name of Christ. Lives appropriate for His ambassadors, His lights shining in he darkness of the world, leading the lost to the way, the truth, the light; God the Word, our beloved Christ.

Romans 1:11-12

Paul, having not yet even visited the Church which had formed in Rome, now longed to see them. And it’s important to note they why to this statement To what purpose does he long to see them? “That I might impart on you some spiritual gift…” See, it is not merely for useless and meaningless travel that he longs to go and see them, neither just for their companionship, but rather for divine purpose. It is an aspect of our current faith that seems foreign when we read the Scriptures or when we study the early Church, that we tend to separate our lives into “spiritual” and “secular.” We divide between the two. We have our spiritual lives: prayer, worship, studies, and service; and we have our secular lives: work, television, nights out, time with our friends, etc. We want to fit in with the world and still be able to go out and have friends, and then present ourselves piously at the weekly church service as being “good, God-fearing Christians.” And, because of this great divide, it’s so easy for us to forget that when we read the lives of the early Church, or the lives of the saints in Scripture, that their actions, their very motives for doing things, were divinely inspired. In our neglect of the Holy Spirit, we have removed the very source of all inspiration that we read about all throughout Scripture, and then wonder why our lives seem to pale in comparison.

See, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, every aspect of our life is governed by the Spirit, thus every aspect of our lives becomes spiritual. Our worship is no longer the song that we sing Sunday before the sermon starts, our very lives become worship. We worship God in our interactions with others, we worship God with our behaviors in traffic, our very lives become spiritual actions, and we either glorify or mock the name of our beloved Jesus with every action, thought, word or deed. Because of this fact, our sheer motivations and desires become divinely inspired. I’ve heard of companies who will fire employees because of their public actions, as it becomes a stain on the reputation of the company if one of their employees behaves in a particular way; and yet so often we will support the right of a company to do that, yet drag the name of our beloved Jesus through the mud of consummate sin daily, never once thinking that He might be offended by this fact.

Paul speaks of imparting this gift to them. Not something that he had owned that he was giving them, but rather something that he had received that he was going to share with them. He is not imparting a tent that he had created with the sweat and toil of his own hands, but rather “some” spiritual gift. It’s important that this is “some” gift, as the humble Paul deems it. A gift which was suitable to his ability to give. He who so often denied that he had any right to have received anything, now proclaiming that he wants to share that which he has received. And to what purpose? “That you may be established” says the humble apostle. See, Paul was very adamant, and very careful, that grace was a gift which was given to us, not something that we could ever earn of our own volition. The grace of God itself was never the “finish line,” the end result of anything, to be received and then cast aside. Rather, he through his teaching and very life, proclaimed that the grace of God was the starting point from which we were to put away the insolent spirit which seeks dominion over our lives. It’s very important that we note each of these factors, because so often they can be easily misunderstood. Grace is received and then the “work begins.” It is then that we begin “working out your own salvation in fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) all the while “evaluating to see that you are truly in the faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Jesus Himself tells us that “if any man sins, he is a slave to sin” (John 8:34) and Paul writes “you are slaves to the one you obey, whether slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:20). See, Paul is strongly warning us that it is grace alone which saves us, not our deeds or words; however he also strongly warns us of the amount of work which follows receiving that grace. He himself describes what a grace filled life looked like in his own life, when he details, “Three times beaten with rods; once stoned; three times shipwrecked; a night and a day in the deep; in perils of waters, robbers, my own countrymen, the Gentiles, the wilderness, the sea, among false brothers; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness, in hunger and thirst” (2 Corinthians 11:25-27). The grace of God was given to Paul, and that was the beginning of his walk in the faith. And the warning that came with that grace was that, “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:16). The grace which he had received from the Lord was the grace to break free of his previous bondage to sin, to the flesh, and to labor and toil for the Lord instead. It was the grace of salvation, and that grace of salvation led him to much work for the kingdom. We must remember both points of this fact.

Basically, what Paul is saying to the Church in Rome here is, “a long time have I desired, longed, prayed, to be able to see you so I can ‘fix and strengthen’ you so that you will be unwavering, steady until the end.” At this point, based on what he’s heard from all across the land, he knows that they are in the faith, and longs to teach them to assure that they don’t turn away from the faith; whether through disbelief or disobedience. We have to remember that there were many heresies that, even then, had already begun to circulate. Many false teachers teaching many false doctrines. Even as early as the formation of the early Church, there were many who were already twisting the words of the apostles and the meanings of Scripture, and Paul wished to personally present to the Church the true traditions of the Church to all believers. To counter the teachings that said that disobedience was acceptable, that sin was acceptable. To fight against disbelief amongst the faithful.

See, it’s so easy for us to stumble in this truth. We may know Jesus to be the Lord, but do we believe Jesus is the Lord. Do we have faith enough to make Jesus our Lord? Consider this for a moment, anyone in any church will say yes to that statement, but what do their lives say? Do our lives reflect that we believe that Jesus is our Lord? Jesus asked us, “why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). How often do we disobey Him? How often do we twist Ephesians 2:8-9 to mean that we can behave however we choose because it doesn’t matter, since it is by faith we are saved through grace? I had someone recently tell me that when interpreting Scripture, you should always look for the deeper meaning before you look for the application of Scripture. My problem with that is this, if I interpret a passage of Scripture then it becomes tinted by my own personal convictions. So, if I seek the deeper meaning of any passage before I look to the application of it, then what application of it will I find? See, if you seek and find your own flawed “deeper meaning” in a passage before you figure out what you are applying, then you will figure out a way to apply your own twisting of Scripture. Ultimately, you apply to your life the very view that caused you to interpret Scripture that way to begin with. If you read Ephesians 2:8-10 already acknowledging that you are not to do work, then your application of it to your life will cause the verse to fit your life, not the other way around. Suddenly, instead of transforming your life to align with Scripture, you’re changing the meaning of Scripture to suit your life. And this happens so often, it leads to the Eunomians, the Antinomians, the Nestorians, the Arians, etc. It leads to Marcian being able to convince a large group of people that the Bible is two separate gods and that the Old Testament God has nothing to do with Jesus.

Paul here is saying to the Church in Rome, and to us, “I’ve longed to come to you to make sure that you don’t twist the traditions that you’ve been taught based on your own interpretations of Scripture.” And, that’s something that we especially have to be guarded against. The further we fall into theological relativism, the more we are in danger of this modern movement of idolatry. Our prayers, our guidance by the Holy Spirit, our interpretations of Scripture, and the teachings and traditions of 2000 years of annointed men of God should, nay, must align. If they don’t, then there is nothing to assure that we will be “established to the end.” I’m fearful that so many have fallen victim to this easy believist, hyper-grace, Christianity that requires no change, no work, and no authority in our lives but our own. The Lord has ordained for us, in His Holy Scripture, this system of checks and balances to assure that His children could keep themselves “unstained from the world” (James 1:27), “pure and holy” (2 Timothy 2:21) and “complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:17).

We, my beloved brothers and sisters, must be very mindful, carefully guarded, not to fall victim to this world or the deceptions that it presents to us. We have been given the grace of the Lord; His Holy Scriptures to instruct us; His Church to guide us in understanding the Scriptures, and His Holy Spirit to guide us, to live pure, holy, and obedient lives, to be His ambassadors, a light shining in a dark world. May we never forsake any of these great blessings and fall short, but rather “hold fast the traditions which have been handed down to us” (2 Thessalonians 2:15) that we can be established to the end.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

Romans 1:8-10

Paul here displays a very genuine pastoral concern for the Church in Rome, even though it is one that he not only hadn’t established, but had yet even to have been able to visit. It’s important to us that we acknowledge a very real truth that this displays to us. See, Paul’s concern was not rooted in his reputation, it was rooted in sincere love for the children of God. As he states in his letter to the church in Galatia, “For do I seek to win the approval of men, or of God? For if I sought to please men, then I could not please God.” (Galatians 1:10). In our generation, we tend to be very focused on the self. We’re concerned about our own church or our own reputation. How oft I have heard the statement, “I want this church to be known as a church that…” In reality, however, our concern should not be for our own church, but for the glory of the Lord and the spiritual health of all of our brothers and sisters. Rather than tearing one another down, we should be lifting one another up. As Paul states in his letter to the church in Corinth, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each of you. I planted, Apollos watered, but it is God alone who gives the growth. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” (1 Corinthians 3:5-7). See, he’s displaying this utter sense of humility here, like even if no one ever knew the name of Paul, he would still be laboring for the kingdom, because for his, his labor wasn’t rooted in his own selfish ambition, but rather in the concern for the brethern. It was never the “Church that Paul built,” it was always about the Church that Jesus built, and Paul was but one of millions of parts that the Lord used to build it. And he wanted to assure that the Lord was glorified, and how best to do that but through the lives of the children of the Lord?

Thus, Paul states, “I thank my God through Christ Jesus for all of you.” Consider, and be real with yourself for a moment, how often do any of us do that? How often do we just fall on our faces and thank the Lord for our brothers and sisters in Christ? How often do we include in our prayers “and thank you Lord for all believers and especially for the family that you’ve tied me to locally”? See, we’re often so much better at grumbling and complaining. We’re much better at focusing on what annoys us. The sermon went too long. He didn’t put as much as me in the collection plate. She was singing off-key. That one guy is always late. They let their kids go to public school. We don’t personally like a particular preference, a behavior, a clothing style, and we allow the spirit of the world to infect us and suddenly fellowship becomes tolerance at best. A big one that I personally see is different teachers that people study. If someone is reading the writings of a teacher that someone doesn’t like, then they become “unqualified” to be part of the “evangelical elite,” and suddenly they are branded either “confused” or a “heretic.” It’s this same sort of divisiveness that Paul spoke of to the Corinthians, “Now I say this, that each of you says, ‘I am of Paul,’ or ‘I am of Apollos,’ or ‘I am of Cephas’…Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:11-12). See, when we allow these lines to divide us, it becomes so much harder to have true fellowship, it damages the community of the Church. It becomes so much easier, during the minutes of “fellowship”, to shake hands with someone and smile, knowing that you’ve “unfollowed” them on social media because you didn’t agree with their studies.

Looking into this passage, Paul neither teaches nor condones any of these behaviors. To the contrary, he strongly rebukes them, even just in his own greeting to the believers. He speaks of longing to see them, “without ceasing I make mention of you in my prayers.” And to what purpose does he do so? “That if, by some means, now at last, I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.” Again, we must remember, this isn’t the church that he went to youth group in, the church of his childhood, full of congregants that he’d known since he was a baptized as a baby. No, this is a church that he’d never been to, full of people whom he’d never met. And here he is, longing to be in their presence, as though an adopted child, longing to meet for the first time his natural family.

It is this very love, this very longing, that is so essential to the true community of the church. We’ve focused so much on making our church services appealing to outsiders that we’ve neglected the comfort and security of our very brothers and sisters. Fellowship was never meant to be a once weekly, five to ten minute period of superficial conversation, rather, it is to be a sharing of one’s lives, one’s souls. In the Book of Acts, we read that “all who believed were together, and had all things in common…so continuing daily with one accord…they ate their food with gladness…praising God and having favor with all people.” (Acts 2:44,46-47). See, for us, “going to church” all too often becomes an inconvenience, an obligation to be fulfilled; for the early Church, “being the Church” was a blessing to be longed for, seeking the presence of the brethern.

There is a very dangerous trait that we seem to be enslaved to. It’s the trait of familiarity. And, when we become too familiar with something, we begin to take it for granted. It begins to lose it’s meaning. There are so many examples that I can give of this, think about the feeling of meeting your spouse for the first time, the love that you had for them, and then over the course of years, you begin to take them for granted. Think of the “Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father,” I can virtually guarantee that anyone reading this can recite it forwards and backwards, some of us probably in the original Greek; but do we even pay attention to it at this point? Do we sincerely mean it when we say “You’re kingdom come, Your will be done,” or are we just reciting it? Have we become so familiar with it that we just ignore it without even believing it? Consider this fact, concerning the Holy Scripture itself, as an illustration. The average household in America owns 4.4 Bibles. It has blessedly become so popularly printed that there are even lists rating the “best Bibles of 2017” on the internet now. But, consider this also, 57 percent of Americans admit to reading the Scripture less than four times a year, whereas only 26 percent say that they read the Bible regularly. Now, bear in mind, we meet for church services for an hour and a half, once a week, 45 minutes to an hour of that is a sermon, 15-30 minutes of it is a band playing; how much time do we spend fellowshipping with our fellow brothers and sisters? Do we actually know one another, or just the image that a person can uphold for maybe the 10 minutes a month that we engage them directly in conversation? One week is 168 hours. We’ll round up, in the evangelical church, a church service is two hours of that week, thus the average person’s time in church each week is 1.2 percent. So, how much of the 98.8 percent of your life do you spend outside of church longing to be in church? Even moreso, longing to be in the fellowship of other believers?

See, we need, each of us, to guard ourselves against this spirit of complacency that plagues our culture, our churches, our lives. The answer to this isn’t to do more math and determine how much extra time we should dedicate to service, but rather to truly try to live like the early Church. The apostle warns us, “”do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2). We can never let fellowship become tolerance, allowing petty disagreement to interfere with the community of the Church. Rather, we should allow those feelings to help us grow together in holiness, if there is a brother or sister against whom you bear a grudge, you should actively seek to correct that situation. If there is someone that you don’t like, you should go out of your way to love them all the more, constantly praying and seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance. We can never allow the reverence of the word of God be dispelled, we must remember that it is not a book to be read, nor a textbook to be memorized, but rather, it is the very word of God, handed down through generations and maintained through the blood of countless martyrs who were willing to die rather than allow it to become corrupt. It should never be read to alleviate boredom, but rather it should be fully set apart whenever we even consider opening it. Remember, it is as though the Lord Himself were speaking to you. Would you truly have the TV on if your ears could hear or eyes could see what is written in the Scriptures? Would you have your phone nearby you in case you got a text or an email if you were having a conversation with the Lord?

Lastly, but not leastly, we should long for the presence of other believers. We should long for that fellowship and be sincerely concerned for the welfare of our brothers and sisters. We should count the moments until we are together with them again, remembering Jesus’ words that “where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I with you.” (Matthew 18:20). When we come into the presence of other believers, not only are we in the presence of other believers, but also of the Holy Spirit. That Christ is in our midst. When we become numb to that fact, then we have fully turned away from the faith, as the Lord warned through the mouth of His Prophet Isaiah, “these people draw near Me with their mouths, and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear of Me is taught by the commandment of men” (Isaiah 29:13).

When we come into the presence of the brethern, we draw near to the very presence of the Lord, and for that, we should be very grateful, remembering without ceasing to give thanks unto Him for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We must never allow the spirit of the world to make us forget that, else we allow it to make us forsake the Lord Himself.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

Romans 1:1-7

I find it interesting that Paul, considering how often he rebukes the ideology that cultural heritage equals spiritual favor, addresses this letter using his Greek name of Paul rather than his Hebrew name of Saul. It’s something to keep in mind as you study through the Book of Romans, almost like a slap in the face to the Jews in the beginning of the letter, and a warm embrace to the Gentiles who read it.

Paul begins this letter by declaring himself to be a bondservant, a slave (doulos in Greek) to the Lord Jesus. It’s important to note, however, that he doesn’t stop with merely declaring himself to be a slave, for the services of a servant are many. In any household, there are many specific tasks assigned to individuals, and so it is in the house of the Lord as well. We see this concept applied in the Book of Acts, when the apostles decree that “it is not desirable that we should be taken from the Word of the Lord to serve tables” (Acts 6:2). Similar to that, Paul here specifies that he is “called to be an apostle” and in ministering the gospel of God. In his letter to the Corinthians, he even states that he was “not called to baptism, but to minister the gospel of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:17). “Called to be an apostle” he states, thereby removing any concept of personal assumption of the role into which he has been placed. See, as Saul of Tarsus, he would never have dreamed of becoming an apostle, one sent, of the Lord Jesus. However, once his eyes were opened and the truth revealed, he embraced that calling with such fervor that none could ever hope to quench. Separated, set apart, for the gospel, means that his specific calling was to spread the gospel, to be a teacher for the Lord.

“Which he had promised through His prophets concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David in the flesh.” Concerning His Son reveals the spiritual essence of the Lord Jesus, while being born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, shows the human essence of the Lord. This thereby decrees that Jesus, who walked upon the earth in the flesh, was, in fact, of two natures, spiritual and flesh, both human and divine. While this teaching may seem elementary to us, we have to be mindful that the very letter that the Church received explaining this for possibly the first time is this very letter which is considered one of the most important books of the New Testament aside from the Gospels. We have to remember that the Church didn’t have a New Testament, thus all of this was very new to them. They had only the Torah to read, and thus this letter for them was like a contemporary Christian reading a commentary on the Scriptures. It explained the areas for them that they didn’t understand. I consider this fact often when I read the words and lessons of the Church fathers and apply that to Scripture. Athanasius’ teachings on Ephesians would be comparable to Paul’s teachings to the Romans on Hosea and Joel; Chrysostom’s teachings on 1 Timothy would be comparable to Philip’s explaining Isaiah to the Ethopian eunuch. While I would never hold Chrysostom or Athanasius’ teachings in the same esteem as Paul or Philip, neither would I disregard them, especially on passages that were harder for me to understand.

“Through Him we have received grace and apostleship.” Consider for a moment the humility with which Paul would have had to pen those words. Paul was always very cautious not to allow himself to be praised for anything that he had accomplished, but was always careful to assure that the Lord alone received the glory for all things. In the Book of Acts, we see a period where Paul and Barnabas are lifted up and held as gods, and they respond by stating, “men, why are you doing this? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach that you should turn from these useless things to the living God.” (Acts 14:15). In his letter to the Corinthians, he writes, “to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another, the gift of knowledge.” (1 Corinthians 12:8). Our knowledge, our wisdom, our faith, everything that we have is a gift of the Holy Spirit, to Whom all credit is due. And here, Paul states that the grace, the very apostleship that they’ve attained to, they received through the Spirit. Not through their work, no amount of toil, or study, no work, nor theological studies; but through their relationship with the Holy Spirit. There was nothing that they had achieved, but rather they had received, from Him and through Him.

“For obedience to the faith.” This has a dual meaning, and I think that both need to be applied here. See, obedience to the faith can mean acceptance of the faith itself or the virtue of obedience practiced by those who believe it. And, it’s imperative that we learn this dual meaning and each side of it, for elsewhere in Scripture we see that: to please God we must believe that He is God, accepting the faith itself (Hebrews 11:6); and that once we believe, we must obey Him as our Lord, the virtue of obedience (Luke 6:46). To please God we must believe that He is the Lord, and not only believe that He is the Lord, but act as though He is OUR Lord. I think of how often in Scripture we see Jesus command someone, “follow Me.” Now, consider those who obey immediately and contrast that to those who come up with excuses. To those who wished to bid farewell to families or bury the dead or any other excuse they could come up with, He deemed them unworthy to be His disciples, and thus unworthy of the kingdom. Only those who immediately followed Him were considered worthy. Delayed obedience is disobedience in the eyes of the Lord, and those who are disobedient are not worthy because they choose the world and their own desires over the commands of their Lord. Why would we call Him Lord if we’re not willing to obey Him? Those who do are those of whom the Lord spoke when He said, “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship is based on mere human rules as they have been taught.” (Isaiah 29:13).

Consider this, the apostle Paul, perhaps the most deserving saint in all of Church history; how does he refer to himself? A bondservant, doulos, a slave, to Christ. Is that how we would define our relationship with the Lord? Do we obey what He commands, or do we make excuses? Do we break out theological science books to try to determine the formula that says that we can get to heaven still chasing after our own desires? Do we delay our obedience as long as possible before we finally break down?

See, in our generation, we have this very dangerous habit. We think that church is about us. How it makes us feel, what kind of social groups it has, what the youth group is like, how we like the band, the speaker, whatever. And, whatever we don’t like, we try to change. If we don’t like a doctrine, we change it. It’s easy to find a Scripture to support whatever we want to change it to. Pick a sin, I can find a verse that we can twist to make it seem like it’s okay to do. But, Paul says something very important here. He says that we are called of Jesus Christ. We can’t skim over this, we can’t let it pass us by. We are called by Jesus Christ, which in turn means that we are called by His Church, the Body of Christ. And, we are called by that Church to a life of faith. See, we don’t create the Church, Jesus already did that. And He has placed people where He needs them to preserve the integrity of His Church, and we have to trust in that. We can’t change the Church just because we don’t like something that is there. When we disagree with the Church, which has Christ as the cornerstone, the Church doesn’t change, we do. And I know that’s not a popular thought, but Scripture warns against those popular thoughts that we all want to hear, something about “itching ears.” (2 Timothy 4:3). If we don’t have faith in the Bride of Christ, then how can we claim to have faith in Christ Himself? If the Church ever goes against the word of God and corruption enters in, as we see in the Books of Jude and Revelation, then the body removes the corruption, but we must never turn away from the Church as a whole, regardless of how convincing a leader steps up and tries to lead the people of God away from the Church of God.

Paul tells us that we are “called to be saints.” That is in the present tense. It is not some far off distant ideal, it is a very real and present command for those who claim to follow the Lord. We, His disciples, His children, are called to be His saints, His followers. He tells us to be the “salt and the light” of the earth, displaying His greatness and His goodness for the world to see, that His name might be glorified. We are His ambassadors, His representatives in a lost and dark world, and whatever we do, we attach His holy name to. He tells us that we are to humble ourselves, looking to Him and our elders as our role models, living godly and holy lives, blameless among men, and offering ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice. I would warn against any teaching that teaches contrary to these commands, as they are taken directly from Scripture. Any teaching that teaches that we can continue to walk in sin, to walk in darkness, that nothing that we do will have any impact on our salvation; nowhere in Scripture are any of those teachings found. Rather, they are more the words that the serpent used in the garden. “Did God really say…no He didn’t say that. Surely you won’t perish…”

“Grace and peace to you” is the end result of walking in righteous obedience with our Lord, our beloved Christ. It is the “assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1), it is “walking as children of Light, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:10), it is “walking in a manner worthy of the Lord (Colossians 1:10). Through His Prophet Ezekiel, the Lord asks us, “Do I have pleasure in the death of the wicked, rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23). See, the most miserable thing in the world is a believer, one who truly believes and declares that Jesus is Lord, and yet still clings to His sin. That person creates for themselves a war within themselves. The true grace and peace come from knowing and loving the Lord, delighting yourself in the Lord, and receiving the greatest gift that you could ever receive, the grace of the Lord. The assurance of knowing that you are walking with the Lord, and that “he who endures to the end will be saved.”

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

So, there are some things that the Lord laid upon my heart that I feel compelled to give voice to; an indictment against the church culture of our generation. See, I’ve been praying through Scripture a lot and I’ve come to realize that we, our generation as a whole, is the most sinful period in all of the history of the Church. And by this statement, this is not an indictment against the world, for the world has always been and will always be the world, but rather it is an indictment against the Church itself. The Church today is more sinful than the Church during the Crusades, during the Inquisition, during the Renaissance and Reformation; more sinful than the Church during any period of our entire history post resurrection of our Lord.

How can I proclaim this statement, you might ask. There are two main things that stand out to me more than anything else.

To begin; in the Gospel of Luke, we learn of two sisters, Mary and Martha. Jesus is in their home sharing their company and Mary is sitting at the feet of our beloved Lord, meanwhile, Martha is distracted, running about, serving food, cleaning, cooking, etc. At one point, she turns and complains to Jesus, saying “Do you not care that my sister has left me alone to serve?” And Jesus answered, “Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the good part.” (Luke 10:38-42). And, so often, that is us. We busy ourselves so much with things that we often miss what is important. We fill our schedules with Bible studies, youth groups, memorization drills, theology books, etc so completely that we forget to just enjoy being in His presence.

Alistair Begg is quoted as saying that “A good church is Bible-centered. Nothing is as important as this, not a large congregation, a witty pastor, or tangible experiences of the Holy Spirit.” While I agree about the witty pastor and the large congregation, how is being Bible-centered more important than experiencing the Holy Spirit? That sums up the problem with the Church in our generation perfectly. We have mistaken knowledge for spiritual maturity and spent so much time learning about the Lord that we have forsaken the Lord Himself. We’ve replaced a relationship with Him with knowledge about Him, and that strongly to our detriment. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon warns us that “I gave my heart to know wisdom and knowledge, to learn proverbs and understanding. And this, too, was waywardness of spirit. For in abundance of wisdom there is abundance of knowledge, and he who increases knowledge will increase suffering.” (Ecclesiastes 1:17-18). He closes the book with the statement, “guard yourself, for there is no end to the making of many books, and much study is weariness of the flesh.” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). He begins and ends the book with the warnings that seeking only knowledge is harmful at best and dangerous at worst. Paul echoes this warning when he admonishes us that “knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.” (1 Corinthians 8:1). I think of our generation with it’s endless study Bibles and Bible studies; it’s hours long process of memorizing every single verse of Scripture; it’s years devoted to perfecting a scientific method of studying the Holy Scriptures and “properly interpreting the word of God,” and then I think about a great quote from one of the fathers of the Church, “No matter how much we study, it is impossible to come to know God unless we live by His commandments, for God is not known by science, but by the Holy Spirit.” (St Silouan the Athonite). See, I’ve read stories of monks who dedicate hours daily to prayer, to being in silence, to merely enjoying being in the presence of God. As the Scriptures teach, “be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10). James teaches us to “draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Paul Washer, at a pastor’s conference, admonished everyone to get away, to leave behind cell phones, to leave behind “those books,” and just be in God’s presence. He warned, his words, not mine, “so often, Jesus can become a good hermeneutic, a cross-reference, a story to be learned instead of a person to love.” (Paraphrased). He recognized that Alistair Begg’s statement removes the person, the human essence of Jesus, and reduces Him to a topic of study. Where would the book of Acts have been without a tangible encounter of the Holy Spirit? What would have become of the Saul of Tarsus if he’d stuck only with reading the Scriptures that he had? The very Scripture that he’d known from his youth, that had led him to be a murderer and executor of the “Sect of Christ followers.”

See, when I hear quotes like that from Alistair and look at our current culture of the Church, I can’t help but feel that what Paul Washer warns about is exactly what happened. We’ve removed the Holy Spirit, reduced the Father to an adult with a lego set, and Jesus has become the axis around which we spin theological threads, weaving intricate and moral stories to convince Johnny not to watch pornography and Dave to quit cheating on his wife. We’ve become the church in Ephesus about which Jesus states, “repent…or else I will come and remove the lampstand from it’s place.” (Revelation 2:5). See, we’ve committed the grievous sin of Ephesus. We’ve become very doctrinally sound, so much so, however, that we love our doctrine more than we love our Christ. Though we would never admit that statement aloud, our deeds show the truth within our heart.

And were that all, we would be as sinful as poor Ephesus, however, there is more to it than that. See, for their fatal sin, Ephesus still had redeeming qualities. See, they were in love with their doctrine, but their’s was a love that still required deeds as evidence of that love. Our generation is even worse, because we’ve even forsaken those very deeds which stood to prove their love. Jesus states that they continued to work for His name’s sake. Because of their love of the doctrine of Christ, they still cared for the needy and the poor, they still refused to accept sin into the church, they still labored doing the work of the kingdom, but for the sake of their doctrine, not for their love of Christ.

We, on the other hand, have confused knowledge for maturity, as we’ve discussed; we’ve also confused busyness for productivity. We’ve created so many means of being “so busy working in the service of the Lord” that we’ve neglected to leave time to actually do service in the name of the Lord. We’ve replaced sins of commission with sins of omission. I’ve heard it put this way, “we’re not playing to win, we’re playing to not lose.” See, James tells us that “to him who knows what is good and does not do it, to him it is a sin.” (James 4:17). I’ve actually heard the statement, from a pastor, “it’s not the church’s responsibility to care for the poor; the church’s responsibility is to preach Christ crucified.” At the moment I heard that, I blindly accepted that false doctrine. And yet, James teaches us that if you see someone “naked and destitute of food and one of you says, ‘depart in peace, be warm and filled’ but do not give them the things that are needed for the body, what does it profit?” See, James is warning us against this idea that it’s not our responsibility to help a person’s physical bodily needs, contrary to the statement that I had heard. Are we to worry about their salvation? Of course we are, but we are likewise to care for the poor and needy. Jesus Himself warns us that when we forsake the hungry, the poor, the sick, the prisoner, that we, in fact, forsake Him. He says, “whatever you do for the least of these, you have done to Me.” (Matthew 25:40). When we know what good we are to do and don’t do it, then we have done wicked. St Basil warns us that “the bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your closet the garment of the naked; the shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity you do not perform are so many inustices that you commit” and John Chrysostom warns us that “If you cannot find Christ in the beggar outside the church, neither will you find Him within the chalice.”

See, our sins are greater than any other time because we have forsaken the Lord twice, once in His own triune essence, and once in the essence of all who were created in His image. Our sins are not so great because of our commission, but because of our omission. Not because we have committed grievous deeds, but because we’ve done little at all. No, our sins are grievous because we’ve been instructed what to do, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and yet care little for them compared to how great our love for ourselves has grown.

I’ll end this with a study I heard about recently. A group of potential seminary students was interviewed and asked why they wished to enter seminary. Hands down, the majority answer was “to help people.” They were then told that they had one hour to prepare a sermon on the Good Samaritan and then had to travel elsewhere to give the sermon. The study was this, the people conducting the survey planted someone between the two buildings who appeared to have been mugged. After having answered that they wished to help others and then preparing a sermon on the Good Samaritan, less than half of those potential students actually stopped to try to help the man who was in need. Consider that for a moment.

Our generation has sinned grievously against the Lord, but, out of His goodness and grace, and for His name’s sake, He constantly offers us the chance to repent, to turn around and follow His words. I may be completely wrong on any part of this writing, but it is what I see in Scripture. I see Jesus constantly commanding us to help our fellow man, to aid the poor. “Pure religion before the Lord is this, to care for the orphans and widows, and to keep one’s self unstained from the world.” (James 1:27). Perhaps we don’t have to heed His warnings from Scripture, maybe the bare minimum to get into heaven is to proclaim His name and keep to ourselves, but, one day we must all stand before Him and give an account of every deed, every thought that we’ve ever had. I pray that each of us, myself included, would look beyond our own selfish ambitions and desires and instead be accused by Him of taking His word too literally, rather than looking down and proclaiming, “sorry Jesus, I thought you meant this instead…” Let us repent, let us look to the word, let us grow in our maturity and our relationship with Christ, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, active in our lives, and let us display for the world the love and compassion, the mercy and grace, that the Lord has provided for us.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

I’ve recently been involved in a conversation about the doctrine of Total Depravity, and one of the things that has really stood out to me is this. The definition of the doctrine of total depravity is, “Total depravity (also called radical corruption or pervasive depravity) is a Christian theological doctrine derived from the Augustinian concept of original sin. It is the teaching that, as a consequence of the fall of man, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin, as a result of their fallen nature and, apart from the efficacious prevenient grace of God, is utterly unable to choose to follow God, refrain from evil, or accept the gift of salvation as it is offered.”

When I looked into this, one particular verse stood out to me perhaps more than any other. See, so often, when discussing this doctrine, people quote Paul’s writings in Romans, “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10-12). What must be remembered in this passage is that Paul is writing it in reference to the Jews who claimed that, because of their cultural heritage, they were more righteous than the Gentiles, having “Abraham as their father.” Paul isn’t using this in reference to all of humanity, rather, he is stating these Scripture quotes (each of which is quoting from the Old Testament) to humble the Jews, reminding them that they are equally in need of the Lord Jesus as the Gentiles are. He also states multiple times in his epistles that “there is neither Jew nor Greek” (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11), but that “all are one in Christ Jesus. 

It’s important to understand what he was referring to because the point of his quoting those Scriptures was not to imply that all men are evil and depraved, but rather that all men are equal, and thus all men are equally in need of the same salvation, the same faith. In the epistle to Titus, he states that “to the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” (Titus 1:15). Now, consider for a moment what that passage says. “To those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.” Compare that passage with the doctrine of total depravity, which, by definition, states that every person, as a result of original sin, is unable to refrain from evil or choose salvation. Paul, in the passage from Romans states that no one seeks after God, but in the Book of Hebrews, we read that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Bearing that in mind, as per the reading of Romans to refer to all of humanity as totally depraved, it is impossible for any of us to please God, because we would never diligently seek Him. Further, it is also important to remember that the same apostle wrote that God would “render to each according to his deeds.” (Romans 3:2). Again, if Paul meant those quotes (from Romans 3:10-12) to refer to this doctrine of total depravity, then “there is no one who does good, no not one” is a very dark statement, considering he had just told them that God would render to each according to their deeds.

I am so passionate about this doctrine, because it leads us to a very antinomian approach to our faith. To consider that no one can ever do good and please God, no matter what we do or how we try leaves us in a position where so many would just abandon hope and never try. Our goals as Christians include our personal holiness and sanctification, our mortification of sin; and it would be so easy for someone who believes that no matter what they sacrifice that they could never be pleasing to God to just surrender and say, “I’m washed by the blood, freed from the punishment of sin, I can do whatever I want since I can never lose my salvation anyway.” And that’s not what we see in Scripture. To the contrary, we constantly see the prodigal, leaving and going away, and then deciding of his own accord that he needs to humble himself and return, and being accepted upon his repentance. According to the doctrine of total depravity, the prodigal would never have returned, because the father never calls him to return; thus the son would never have sought good or sought to return to the father. Through theological contortion and our own interpretation, we could claim that the situations were given by the father that made it so miserable for the son that that became his call to seek the father, but none of that is in Scripture, it would all be applying our own “wisdom of the age” to alter the story that the Lord has already given to us, perfected and infallible.

More of a passionate ranting than an actual study here, the conersation thus far has gone on for in excess of 5 hours of verbal communication and four very lengthy emails, but I wanted to post the basics of it here.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.