22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO COUNTED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written THAT IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be counted, as those who believe upon Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over on account of our transgressions, and was raised on account of our justification. Romans 4:22-25 (LSB)

We have completed Paul’s case that God justifies sinners on the basis of faith alone. In the passage above (Romans 4:22-25) we have his concluding remarks to that part of his dissertation. He has made it clear that those truly in Christ did not get there according to merit or works, but on the basis of faith alone, but now we begin the section of Romans that if not taken in context can cause much confusion…. Continue reading →

27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that faith, is one. 31 Do we then abolish the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. Romans 3:27-31 (LSB) 

In our last post we ended with the passage above in which Paul makes it very clear that genuine salvation is by the law of faith not by a law of works. In v28 he says, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” Justification is by faith alone and does not depend at all on doing any works of the law…. Continue reading →

19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are in the Law, so that every mouth may be shut and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law NO FLESH WILL BE JUSTIFIED IN HIS SIGHT, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:19-20 (LSB) 

The real Gospel is not entertaining. It is not “fun.” It is not hip. It is not cool. No, it is blunt and abrupt and not politically correct. It calls everyone a sinner with no exceptions and those who are justified by God are so on the basis of the righteousness of another while they remain completely undeserving…. Continue reading →

9 What then? Are we better? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME WORTHLESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” 13 “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN TOMB, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; 14 “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; 15 “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, 16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, 17 AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” 18 “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.” Romans 3:9-18 (LSB) 

In my post, The Righteous Shall Live by Faith a few days ago, we looked at Romans 1:15-17, which gives us Paul’s theme for this Epistle. which is The Gospel of the Righteousness of God. My intent for this post is to cover a lot of ground, Romans 1:18-3:20. Why?… Continue reading →

1 I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the fortification; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me And how I may respond when I am reproved. 2 Then Yahweh answered me and said, “Write down the vision And write it on tablets distinctly, That the one who reads it may run. 3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It pants toward its end, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come; it will not delay. 4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:1-4 (LSB) 

In September/October 2021 I wrote the manuscript for my book Complete in Christ, which was a commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians.. After Stuart published it several weeks later we talked about what I should work on next. We decided on Romans. I have had many false starts on working on that manuscript. I wanted it to just “Come together” like Complete in Christ, but every time I tried to work on it something came up and caused me to have to stop. So, this post is my starting point for my commentary on Romans. I do not have a title for it yet, but I do like the title of this post. What do you think about that?…. Continue reading →

1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist have been appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists that authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. Romans 13:1-2 (LSB) 

There are some who teach that our salvation is something of a crapshoot. Oh, they don’t use words like crapshoot to describe their Soteriology, but their insistence that a person’s salvation is a mere decision means that their approach to the Gospel is one of mood and emotion manipulation that can be resisted by a person and, therefore, results in nothing more than some emotional decisions amidst many equally emotional rejections. Is this God’s plan for building His Church? Continue reading →