All posts by Luella Campbell

ROMANS…PAUL’S EXPLANATION – 6

Bible Study, ,

To understand the need for and the impact of the gospel, Paul had first to explain the condition of the human heart.

Why is God angry with people?

Paul launched into a comprehensive explanation of the root cause of the sin in his world…and ours…because people are still the same today. 

First, the basic problem in the human heart is not just that people don’t know God. Why? They love their sin. They don’t WANT to know God. God is their enemy. They hate Him and do every possible thing to deny,  defy and rebel against Him. 

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Denying that God exists is first, inexcusable because God’s presence is everywhere in creation and, second, has a downward trajectory that starts with, rather than ends with wickedness. People suppress the truth…they push it down, move it out the way, get rid of it, by their sin. 

“In the Bible, “suppress” generally means to actively hold down, stifle, or restrain something. It is most prominently used in the context of humanity willfully ignoring the reality of God…” ( Source: Google AI)

Human rebellion begins with denial. Even if they deny that there is a God or that they are accountable to Him, they still need something bigger than themselves to lean on.  So, people must substitute the real God with gods of their own making. 

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

If one denies that God exists, or that He is real, anything  goes. One can invent one’s own god…and one can make him be or do anything in one’s imagination…but the outcome is horrible. Darkness! Futility! 

What is darkness?

”In the Bible, darkness generally symbolizes the absence of God’s presence. It primarily represents sin, ignorance, spiritual blindness, and divine judgment.“ (Source: Google AI)

Futility…the outcome of darkness…

“In the Bible, futility describes the emptiness, purposelessness, and frustration of human endeavors apart from God. It refers to the fleeting, transient nature of worldly pursuits—like chasing the wind—and highlights that life’s true meaning can only be found in a relationship with the Creator.”

(Source: Google AI)

Darkness and futility exactly describes the condition of Paul’s world and ours but…the downward spiral gets worse…

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Out of their wickedness, people have made a conscious and deliberate exchange…the true God for gods made like creatures…the worst of humans or animals…the result of their futile thinking and perverse “wisdom”. 

Look around you at the way people are living out this pattern. The mess people’s lives are in…the consequences of their behaviour…makes no sense unless it starts with the notion that they can do as they like and get away with it. 

Not with God! Consequences are inevitable and follow what people do. 

Paul reaches a startling conclusion… the outcome of bad choices and the behaviour is not just a consequence…it’s God’s judgment…and He judges in an unexpected way. 

“…Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭25‬-‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Perverse sexual behaviour and everything connected with it is not “sexual orientation” or the result of a rogue gene over which no one has control. Homosexuality is not a feeling or an urge. It’s a consequence! It’s God’s judgment on people who refuse to acknowledge God and deliberately submit themselves to substitutes and…

…Gods’s judgment is perfectly just. He gives them what they want! This is scary because they have no idea where their choices will take them. They do not understand that their persistence and justification for turning God’s righteous way upside down will lead to a “perverse” mind.

“In the Bible, “perverse” means to deliberately turn away from God’s moral standards to do what is wrong. Rather than just making a mistake, it describes a willful, stubborn attitude of twisting what is good into evil.” (Source: Google AI)

The Greek word, ”adokimos”, has the meaning of unapproved…that is “unacceptable”, translated “reprobate”, “depraved”, or “perverted”. The idea is that what was good is regarded as evil and what is evil has become acceptable as good. 

Wicked behaviour had deliberately pushed God and His instructions to do what is right down and out of the way. People  did such bad things that they could no longer think what was right and good…and God confirmed their choices by giving them what they wanted.

 Paul’s description of his world mirrors our world perfectly.  Reading what Paul has to say is like reading today’s newspaper or listening to today’s news. 

“They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭29‬-‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Paul’s caps his description of society with his diagnosis…

“Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

That’s who they are, and that’s what they have become…and that’s what they deserve. 

To be continued 

ROMANS…PAUL’S THEME – 5

Bible Study, ,

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Righteousness! The righteousness of God. Why God’s righteousness? 

Put yourself to the shoes of these Roman converts. Their background was paganism…they had worshiped a plethora of gods who were evil, capricious, controlling, and demanding…originated in the imagination of those who created them….

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬-‭23‬

Against this background, there were people in Rome who had emerged from the darkness of idolatry to believe in Jesus and to be made new creatures in Christ.

Where was Paul to begin? What had happened to them that had caused a radical change deep inside them. Despite the way they had thought and behaved, they were different now…viewing God, themselves, and the world from a different perspective. They knew they had changed inside but on what did they base their faith?

However, they still had to contend with minds and lives shaped by an evil belief system that had infiltrated their thinking and shaped their lives. This belief system had to be dismantled thought by thought. 

There were so many things Paul could tell them but…he must start at the beginning…with God. 

Paul’s readers had heard the gospel…the good news…and believed it. Something amazing had happened to them. They were different people…but how… why?

It was God, God who had stepped in with a way so daring that it takes one’s breath away. He d done something for them and in them that needed explanation…a solid foundation that would not shake when troubles came. 

Righteous by faith? What did that mean? In the following pages, Paul would give them a thorough explanation of God’s righteousness…how they could approach a holy God and be accepted, and how, by faith, they could live in fellowship with this holy God. 

God’s story was, first, good news. All their lives, the Romans had lived sin, apart from God, and had within them the sentence of death. No peace…always fearful and aware of guilt even if they tried to deny what their conscience was telling them. 

So, what Paul had presented to them was indeed good news. When they received Jesus, they knew that something radical had happened to them. They had peace inside… the burden of guilt, fear, and shame was gone. They felt free. 

They had experience salvation…a wholeness in which their whole world had turned right side up. Apart from the peace that had replaced their dis-ease, even their desires had changed.  They no longer lusted after the desires of their old selves. They felt comfortable with God. Jesus was real to them. They enjoyed being with God ‘s people. 

All these changes happened to them when they gave themselves to Jesus as a choice based on what they heard about Him…as Paul later explained. 

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Righteousness by faith…the gospel…God’s power… big subjects that Paul was about to unpack, one step at a time…

To be continued

ROMANS…PAUL’S OBLIGATION – 4

Bible Study, ,

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Paul wanted to go to Rome. He planned to go to Rome but…it didn’t work out for him.. not yet. As he worked his way from Syrian Antioch, his headquarters, across the province of Asia, preaching and starting churches in cities and towns as he went, through southern Europe, Rome would always be his goal.

He had answered the call to enter Europe and eventually, to reach Spain, so he thought, which, for him, was the outer reaches of the empire but…Rome was his target. Why Rome? We can only guess. 

Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire, the centre and hub of government. Its influence, like the spokes of a wheel, radiated outwards to the farthest reaches of Rome’s territory. Caesar, whoever he was, was the mighty human power that controlled the lives of its citizens and those who lived in its conquered colonies. The Caesar’s power, however despotic, was everywhere but…

Paul had a message to share with the world that would lift its people above the power of an earthly tyrant into the realm of God’s reign. Jesus, and what He did would free them from fear and give them hope of a life now and a future beyond their wildest imagination and beyond Rome’s reach. He had to go to Rome from where the influence of his message would spread throughout the world. 

Paul’s letter, after giving his credentials, which were so necessary because of those masqueraded as apostles, began in the best possible way…thanksgiving for the news of their faith that had spread across the whole Roman world. In Paul’s day, he didn’t need social media or the internet to get information out. Constant movement of people took news everywhere, good or bad. 

So, Paul could be sincerely grateful that there, in Rome, was a group of people who believed in Jesus and were not afraid to make it known. However, he was also keen to ensure that they clearly understood the ramifications of their faith so that they would be grounded in the truth…especially in the face of the danger they faced daily, the threat of death at the hands of a ruthless despot, should they be discovered. 

These Roman believers had to live their faith in secret. Like many Christians in the Islamic world today, they gathered in small groups in hidden places, to worship, read Scripture, pray, and share their stories, to avoid being discovered,  arrested, and often tortured to death. 

It was to these people that Paul wrote…to anchor their faith in the timeless truths of God’s eternal plan and the grace that brought Him to earth to set His plan in motion. They had begun well. Now it was important that they understood the foundation of truth upon which their faith rested. 

Paul’s calling to preach the good news was as wide as the world itself…and it was not optional. 

“I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus had given Paul the task of taking His message across the world…from Jerusalem, where it began, to Rome where the world was centred. No one was excluded from hearing and responding to the good news. His was more than a calling. It was an obligation that pressed hard on him, moving him ever onward to wherever the Holy Spirit led him. 

Paul had learned that, far from his narrow view of God’s exclusive dealings with Israel as His covenant people, God was offering His mercy to whoever would receive it. Jew, Gentile, Greek, Roman, men, women, slave or free…His grace was available for everyone who would believe. So, he had to tell them or they would never know. 

His message was both broad and narrow…broad because it was for everyone and narrow because everything God offered was about one man, Jesus,  and one foundation…God’s righteousness. 

To be continued

ROMANS…PAUL’S GOSPEL – 3

Bible Study, ,

“…the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Paul had only one message to share with the world…a message that had many facets but one heart…Jesus…the crucified, risen, Lord. His story was embedded in a book…the Holy Scriptures…a story older than time itself. God had first written this story in eternity, then shared it with His prophets, and finally confirmed it in history by doing He said He would do.  He didn’t write it as it happened. He wrote it before it happened so that no one could accuse Him of making it up as He went along. All He did was to confirm in history what He had written in eternity. No one but God could do that! 

By the stroke of a pen, Paul married the two truths that cannot, in human terms, like oil and water, mix. Humans like to turn humans into God, like some have done to Mary…but, can God become human?

This is unthinkable unless God Himself, not we humans, did it…and Paul declared that God did. 

How did it happen?

Jesus…”to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God”…the son of David and the Son of God in one person. The whole Bible is the story of how it happened. 

Man fell into sin and was punished by death. Everyone dies. No one but another man could rescue humans from their fate. There is no man innocent of sin that can take the punishment for man. So God Himself became a man. He never sinned. He was qualified to die for man but…He is God and God cannot die. So…Jesus died as a man and conquered death by rising again and…He was proven to be God and perfect, sinless man by the rising from the dead. 

This is the gospel…the good news! 

As Charles Wesley, the great hymn writer wrote:

“Let earth and heav’n combineangels and men agree,

to praise in songs divine

th’incarnate Deity;

Our God contracted to a span,

our God contracted to a span,

incomprehensibly made man.”

He captured the story of God’s plan in his beautiful hymn…

  1. And can it be that I should gain

An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain?

For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, should die for me?

Refrain:

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, should die for me!

2. ‘Tis mystery all! Th’Immortal dies!

Who can explore His strange design?

In vain the firstborn seraph tries

To sound the depths of love divine!

‘Tis mercy all! let earth adore,

Let angel minds inquire no more. [Refrain]He left His Father’s throne above,

3. He left His Father’s throne above

So free, so infinite His grace;

Emptied Himself of all but love,

And bled for Adam’s helpless race;

‘Tis mercy all, immense and free;

For, O my God, it found out me. [Refrain]

4. Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth and followed Thee. [Refrain]

5.No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th’eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own. [Refrain]

Amen.

Author: Charles Wesley

Source: hymnary.org

Love did what no human mind could imagine…God came to us and, through His death as a man, He took us back to Himself. 

To be continued

ROMANS…PAUL’S GREETING – 2

Bible Study, ,

“To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Loved! Called! Holy people! Grace and peace! How different from the letters of today! 

The messages people send, be they on social media or by personal e-mails, usually dive into the subject without a thought given to the recipient. Whether they be friend or foe, we simply tell it like it is. 

Paul’s letters followed the protocol of letter writing, albeit infused with the flavour and aroma of the gospel. First the credentials of the writer, then the address of the recipient…then a greeting. Our letters, by contrast, simply begin with “Dear so-and-so…” even if our communication might be hostile. The reader must sift through the contents before he/she can identify the author. We sometimes wrote the return address on the envelope…to identify the writer. 

Paul’s greeting set the tone for his readers. They were beloved and called people…not just beginners in the faith but firmly-entrenched sons and daughters of God. Imagine what that might have sounded like as they listened to the reading of the letter. They were beloved, called, and holy. They, these ex-pagan Romans! In God’s eyes, they were all of the above and much more.  

They were already the recipients of God’s grace and peace. He had drawn them into the circle of His forever family.  Now, Paul confers on them more of the grace and peace that they had already received. 

What is this grace and peace?

Grace and peace are like the two bookends that hold a row of books together. 

Grace…the first “bookend”… that is that part of God’s character and attributes that is the motive behind all that He does for us regardless of who we are or what we have done. Grace is like a conduit through which God’s attributes flows…His love, mercy, compassion, kindness, and goodness….all of which are included in the Hebrew word “chesed”, translated “covenant love”. 

“The story of Hannah shows that hen, the Hebrew word for grace, is not only mercy and favour, but it also brings healing, vindication, and strength. While mercy is the removal of punishment or suffering, grace goes beyond. It is a gift that we neither deserve nor can earn. It is something that only God can provide us with since He is the source from which it flows.”

(Source: firmisrael.org. )

If God’s covenant love…His “chesed”, His lovingkindness, His covenant faithfulness…is what He does, grace,  “hen”…is why He does what He does. He provides help, strength, support etc., because of His grace.  Yet, grace not only provides what we need in our troubles…it lifts us up higher than before our trouble. 

So, Paul prays for ongoing grace for his readers…that the grace that has already saved them will flow freely towards them always, which is, of course, the very nature of God. God anyways moves towards the sinner to forgive and raise up the broken, to heal an restore fellowship because of Jesus. 

Peace…the other “bookend”…is the outcome of grace. 

Again, Google AI helps us understand biblical peace. 

“In the Bible, peace is much more than just the absence of conflict. It is a comprehensive state of wholeness, harmony, and well-being. Rooted in the Hebrew concept of shalom and the Greek word eirene, biblical peace involves restored relationships: with God, with others, and within yourself.”

I love this definition of peace…from Pinterest. 

“Peace is the furious serenity that refuses to submit to chaos.”

God’s grace, because of which He has forever dealt with and removed sin and reconciled us to Himself, results in peace, the inward serenity that is anchored to our standing with Him. Our peace is the reassurance from God that we are in right  relationship with Him and that there is nothing that separates us from fellowship with Him. We now have access to all that salvation through Jesus provides for us. 

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Grace and peace…what more can Paul’s readers need or desire in this new life they have received? God comes through grace…reconciles and restores to Himself…and fills and keeps in peace all who call on His name for His mercy. 

To be continued