Romans 12-1 Study Guide

Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.

Atkinson (2014) believes effective leadership displays, “No person is less divine than another, and therefore no person is less than another” (p. 145). Throughout the bible, there are many people in scripture that God placed in leadership roles. Jesus, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart.

"….Since the Jews were continually making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [Claudius] expelled them from Rome …."

1. Consider the depravity of mankind painted by Paul and God’s solution for reconciliation, Ephesians 2:1-3, Rom 6:17, John 3:19, Ephesians 2: 8-9, Ephesians 2:4-5. 2. Ephesians 2 verse 10 describes those who have received genuine salvation as God’s workmanship. Discuss the concept of “workmanship” (see introduction).

Expanding out from Titus, Josephus is quick to praise the power and abilities of the Romans in general, even recounting their “natural mildness,” (Wars3.346). He approves of their skills in war-mongering, writing, “ I shall describe the good order of the Romans in war, and the discipline of their legions,” and their kindheartedness towards the Jews even in wartime. “The Romans,” he explains to “seditious” Jews resisting the Roman siege, “who had no relation to [the Temple], had a reverence for their sacred rites and places, although they belonged to their enemies, and had till now kept their hands off from meddling with them; while such as were brought up under them, and, if they be preserved, will be the only people that will reap the benefit

As there was no separation of church and state in Ancient Rome, Marcus Aurelius also had to deal with a new religious sect known as “Christianity”. Christian devotees refused to take part in Roman festivals or honour the gods of the state. Despite his seemingly peaceful intellect, Marcus Aurelius had no time or sympathy for the Christians and they were persecuted in Gaule.

Jews were impatient of the Roman dominion, and that some held it to be unlawful, on religious grounds, to pay tribute to Caesar (Matthew 22:17). “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

Disregarding preceding events, most notably the enslavement of the Jewish people by the Egyptians, aggression against the Jewish people has precedent in events occurring over two and a half thousand years ago. In the fifth century BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon catalyzed the Jewish Diaspora after destroying a five hundred year jewish temple in Israel and forcing the Jewish people into exile. Although many Jews eventually returned home when the more tolerant Persian empire came to power, dominion was soon transferred to the Roman Empire who again forced the Jewish people into exile. The Romans annihilated a substantial portion of the Jewish population and compromised the identity of the Jewish homeland by renaming it Palaestina. Jews would be scattered throughout the empire, in places such as Germany, at this time. Centuries later, Christianity would be declared the official religion of the empire. Using the infrastructure of the Roman Empire, Christianity would become the dominant religion throughout Europe. Fortunately, the Jews were mainly able to

The three Emperors during the Jewish revolt in 66-70 CE were Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. They wanted to destroy the Jewish civilization. When Titus destroyed the temple and came back to Rome, Vespasian made the Jews attend and watch as the leaders of the rebellion were executed. The Jews continued to thrive in Rome despite being persecuted. Later the Jews use the Arch of Titus as their own symbol, the Jewish states symbol is the Menorah pictured on the Arch of Titus.

The relationship that God has in our life as a saved Christian is authority. God has authority over our life because he is sovereign and all-mighty. In Romans 12:1-2 we are told that we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. That is also a form of worship, because God sent his son to die for out sins we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. It can be easy as a college student to focus more on school then God. So while at college I should use my time as worship. The Bible says we are created as a holy temple, so while at college everything I do should be devoted to God. I often do things and think how can this be used to glorify God? I am studying right now to be a teacher and through these studies one day

To the Israelites their religion was who they were; God's chosen people. Preserving their identity throughout centuries of foreign rule was at times life threatening. Although their liberties greatly varied from the Persian Empire to the Roman Empire their means of resisting both empires stemmed from the same source, their religious texts. There are many examples of texts with anti-imperial themes within Wisdom Literature, Prayer, Songs, Apocalyptic Literature and most importantly the Gospels. With the increasing threat that foreign rule posed many of these texts offered ways to understand the situations by offering their audience guidance, hope, and most of all by preserving their culture which in terms helped them resist cultural annihilation.

“There is much that can be learned about leadership from Scripture” (Smith, 1992, p. 39). The Bible provides us with what God not only desires His man of God to be, but requires His under shepherd to meet His character traits.

Good and virtuous leaders are exemplified throughout the bible, but what was required of these early church leaders and are the requisites applicable to modern leadership? As leaders continue to incorporate a biblical ethical component to their leadership practices, it is hoped that good ethical leader succession will be duplicated. This applied exegetical paper will utilize a socio-rhetorical criticism approach to convey what was expected of the early church leaders and how those expectations can relate to modern leaders. I will analyze Titus 1 a Pastoral Epistle written by Apostle Paul through the process of Social and Cultural Texture analysis. Then, the analysis will explore the virtue and ethical leadership ideas of the Apostle Paul. Lastly, this paper will highlight how the ethical concepts are applicable to modern leadership practices.

Effective leadership approaches from a biblical perspective consist of God’s nature in his manifested character. Christian leaders are willing to pay the price to lead in Christ’s affliction. Paul said there is a price to pay in order to lead and Jesus reminded us, “Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master. ' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (John 15:20, New International Version). Christian leaders need core attributes of God’s styles and approaches, support and linkage from scriptures, and knowledge of his leadership models of truth for effective leadership. However, these perspectives will gave me a better appreciation and insight of who God is and who I can be with his guidance.

In the book of Titus, Paul addresses Titus on how to carry out the task of choosing church leaders. Paul wrote to him so as to challenge him in the way he ought to go. He did this as he was almost leaving Titus behind to go on with the work of God. Titus was to be left with the duty of finishing the work that was pending in Crete. He was charged with the task of appointing leaders for the churches in every town by laying down particular qualifications for the local church leaders[10]. According to the qualifications, it is apparent that the character of a leader matters a lot. The qualifications are divided into