ROMANS 9:6-13 Essay

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were seen as people who failed to listen to God’s commandments. Despite knowing beforehand that they would be punished for their disobedience, they still continued to commit sin. God tried to deter their misbehavior by promising them many blessings, but it worked to no avail. Due to the insubordination of the Israelites, He made sure that the promises He made to them would be withheld and that they would face consequences.

In the beginning of this essay, my intent was to compare and contrast the biblical worldview in Romans chapters 1-8. It appears that there are more comparisons then contrasts. In society today, as well as in Paul’s writings, man is in desperate need of God. Unless a relationship is developed with God, we as his creation, will not have a successful outcome. Paul describes the biblical worldview of each area from his perspective, not realizing that things would remain unchanged. I believe as

In Paul letter to the Romans he provides for us a biblical view of creation, which is our natural world, our human identity as it relates to God, human relationship and how it should be understood and culture. He shows us God’s love for all mankind, regardless of nationality or cultural background through His saving grace found in Jesus Christ. He grants salvation to all by faith in His son, with no favoritism or partiality. Man is incapable of saving himself, it is not earned through his works or good deeds, it’s only found by faith in Christ. It is essential for us today to have a clear and proper biblical understanding of our Creator,

In verse 15, Paul writes, "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners" Paul seems to be telling his gentile reader that the Torah has no bearing on their salvation. I feel that he purposely or inadvertently gives the law merit more merit than intended by suggesting that Jews are not sinners because they received the law. He draws a distinction between himself and "the gentile sinners" yet he is telling his audience that the ways, some of which are still a part of his own way of life, are irrelevant. He seems to almost make a separation of culture and religion. He seems to be saying that the rectitude of the Jews dates from birth, because the Jewish religion is a part of their culture. Peter claims to

9 Instead of being commanding, however, Paul rather make his appeal towards Philemon more loving and soft. He begins his appeal my mentioning who he is; an older man imprisoned due to Christian persecution.

For many years the Apostle Paul and his pastoral leadership has given me great insight as to how live life daily. His missionary journey’s as God’s representative has had great influence on my own theological thought and preservation of my faith. The book of Colossians is filled with stories of redemption, knowledge and the power of prayer. The Apostle’s extraordinary life from darkness to light can only be attributed to the Grace of the Lord.

Moving on, from what Richter named the barrier (people, time, and space), chapter three contains the outworking of God through the five men discussed before. As she states, “the biblical writers consciously organized their material in a systematic fashion in order to communicate certain central truths.” The author briefly details the aspects of the covenants within the Old Testament surrounding Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. Taking, in turn, each of them and expositing them in a way that shows the redemptive story that is taking place. “For each of these characters was called to mediate a covenant between God and humanity”. Tying into the culture of the people, God used the fallen and difficult Israelite culture to set up his redemptive plan the would show to be faithful, even to a faithless people.

Paul became an advocate for the inclusion of the Gentiles among the ‘true’ followers of Christianity. Until this moment in history, Jewish Christians believed that non-Jews had to convert to Judaism and follow the law like them, which included many dietary restrictions and circumcision. Gentiles who worship in the synagogue but did not convert were only

Paul begins his letter by saying he is an apostle not from men nor through man, but Jesus

Paul addresses several issues that can been seen in today’s society. Taking from the scriptures we can see that Paul’s understanding of God’s plan for his people is very clear. If we look at how our own lives we can relate to these eight chapters in Romans that we can see they have just as much meaning in Paul’s time as they do today. The letters that Paul writes to the Roman’s seems they are harsh, but if we look at them closer we can see it is God’s plan given to Paul for his people to follow.

The church in Rome, once so prone to lose sight of their high calling in Christ, had developed strength of Christ character. Their words and acts revealed the transforming power of the grace of God. With clearness and power Paul presents the doctrine of justification by Faith in Christ alone. Paul heart’s desire and prayer for his people the Jews were that they might be saved he now sets forth the great principle of the gospel that salvation is only through faith in Christ as Jesus says “if you love me keep my commandments”. Therefore it is not by works that we are saved nor by relations or titles nor anything but only through Christ who is the “Way the Truth and the Life”.

     The meaning of the passage to Paul is to strengthen his brothers in the faith. Paul wrote this to show them that things will not always be perfect and that some times they will face trials but with Jesus all things are possible. Paul also encourages himself through the encouragement of the church of Colosse. I think that when Paul writes to the church’s and tell them what he thinks, encourages them , prays for them, or even just telling them what he face for the gospel, that it gives him a sense of accomplishment or even a sense of why he is doing what he is doing.

Genesis 1-3 offered the very first outline of societal norms and therein introduced interpretations of norms related to family, gender, and sex. In our now-progressive society, the constraints of indubitable religion are removed and the differing interpretations of gender, sex, and family within religion are freely debated. Since the text of creation is divine and human logic cannot fully interpret or understand God’s word, there are copious, varying interpretations of the text. An essential starting point for interpreting the Bible is the understanding that misinterpretations are bound to happen. The difference in time and context alone is causation, let alone the factors of translation and transcription. Susan T. Foh and Carol Meyers, both graduates of Wellesley College, have very differing strategies regarding how to interpret divine texts. Meyers, a professor at Duke, directed attention towards the context in which the text was written. Since our societies are constantly in flux, the context from when the text was written is often different from the context in which predominant and accepted interpretations were fabricated. Foh’s strategy of interpreting and understanding the text is to utilize latter parts of the text, which were written with more recent contexts, in order to understand the text. Both of these methodologies set up the text to be re-interpreted, however, Foh’s methodology is more complete because it allows the text to speak for itself rather than bring in

Paul begins the letter of Romans by introducing himself and stating his mission. Concisely stating the gospel message, Paul encourages the Roman Christians to “bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name” (1:5), or for the glory of Jesus Christ. He goes on to write of his desires and intentions to visit Rome in order to preach the gospel of Christ to the Jews as well as the Gentiles. Paul continues by explaining his excitement for the gospel as well as the need to live the gospel out in our lives. Finishing the first chapter, Paul presents the inexcusable idolatry, sinfulness, and evilness of the ungodly.

As they always did, Israel cried out to God for help (v. 10). God replied and said that He had saved them numerous times before (v. 11-12). Despite this, they persisted in their disobedience