Tag: Devotion

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Romans 1:13

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.

Paul writes his brief explanation for not being able to come to Rome sooner. We don’t know how long Paul had been promising to come to Rome, and we are aware he had friends in Rome (some are listed in Ch. 16). They may have been pleading with Paul to come and minister there as soon as he could. What is the harvest the Paul wants to have among the Romans? Although harvest could refer to money to fund his missionary journey to Spain, it is more likely that he is referring to a spiritual harvest; the building up of the Christians and preaching of the Gospel. The last clause in the verse ‘as I have had among the other Gentiles’, gives indication that Paul saw the Roman church as a Gentile church, even though many times in the letter Paul is giving teaching to the Roman Jews. From v.1 we know that reaching the Gentiles was Paul’s God-given commission.

ASK YOURSELF: When was the last time you saw a real harvest in your Church? What makes an effective, long lasting, continual harvest?

Dear God, please give myself strength; please give my local Pastors strength; please give Pastors around the world strength to always be reaching out to the lost without a regard for their personal desires for achievement and earthly comfort. Amen.

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Romans 1:12

— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.

For context, vv.11-12 reads:

Romans 1:11-12

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.

V.12, which reads as a sort self-made of ‘correction’ to what Paul wrote in v.11, is making a expansion. Although in v.11 Paul is talking about his visit being about giving to them, as if they need something from him, his expansion is that he too needs something from them; to be encouraged by their faith. Although this can be seen as pandering from Paul, we have no reason not to judge his heart as genuine. Why would Paul need encouragement from the Roman’s faith? Christians are a group of people who have a uniting cause; bringing glory to God and furthering the gospel to the ends of the earth. Christians are meant to do that work together (Romans 15:5). And working together involves mutual encouragement. Although our ultimate encouragement comes from the love of God, I believe God uses us to show his love to one another.

Another important note in this verse is that Paul isn’t seeing himself as higher than those he is writing to. He acknowledges that he has a special assignment from God (Romans 1:1), but that doesn’t make him any less of a human than his fellow believers. This humble attitude is an important lesson that we can take away. No Christian is ‘better’ than any other Christian. We all fall very short of God’s level of perfection. It is our faith in Jesus Christ that allows us to be a Christian, and it is this faith that helps us realize how helpless we all are under our own strength.

ASK YOURSELF: Who can you call or message and encourage today? What method of encouragement is going to mean the most to that person?

Dear God, I pray that you will give me the courage and wisdom to not only share the gospel myself, but also support the Christians around me. I thank you for the opportunities I have to provide encouragement, and I pray as a church we continue to make choices that put your name forward above our own. Amen.

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Romans 1:11

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong —

Paul says he wishes to see the Christians in Rome to impart on them a spiritual gift that will make them stronger. If someone came to me and said they have any gift, let alone a spiritual gift, that would make me strong, my guard would go up. What is this spiritual gift that Paul is referring to? There has been considerable thought from theologians focused on this verse since it was written, with a number of different possibilities proposed. In his first letter to the Corinthians, written before the letter to the Romans, Paul writes a passage about spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-11), in which he says:

1 Corinthians 12:8-10

To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

Is it one of these spiritual gifts that Paul wants to bring to the Romans? Some commentators (Moo), believe that Paul doesn’t know what spiritual gift he’ll bring until he travels to the Romans and sees what their needs are. Longnecker and others believe that the spiritual gift is the letter to the Romans itself, and a deeper understanding of the Gospel. Of course, Paul could be intending for all the above; his gifts are the letter and his preaching of the Gospel and whatever other blessings he can give when he finds out the needs of the local Roman church.

ASK YOURSELF: What are your spiritual gifts? How do we find out what our spiritual gifts are and how to apply them for the furthering of the Gospel?

Dear God, I pray that you soften my heart and open my eyes to see the opportunities you are placing in my life to reach others with love; seeing what their needs are and self-sacrificially meeting those needs. Amen.

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Romans 1:9-10

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.

In a continuation of his prayer for the Romans, Paul prays that he will be accepted by the Romans and be able to come and visit them in person to minister to them. Paul was a missionary commissioned by God to reach the lost (specifically for Paul the Gentiles). That call to be a missionary hasn’t closed for today, and there are thousands of people working across the globe, away from their home towns, in bible translation, medical assistance, church planting, child care and the list goes on. Missionaries do what they do for the glory of God; to tell about God’s love, utilizing the God given skills they have. Paul was a missionary using his gifts of teaching to reach a wide number of early churches, most of which were most likely collections of house churches. For a detailed itinerary of Paul’s missionary travels, read the book of Acts, but in summary we know that Paul in his life traveled from as far east as Jerusalem and Antioch (Syria) to as far west as Rome.

When Paul is writing to the Romans, it is believed he is staying in Corinth (Greece) during his third missionary journey.

How can I, sitting in my home town at my office job have the same effect as Paul, who was travelling to almost everywhere he could get to with the message of the Gospel? I know sometimes use the excuse of ‘I’ll support the international missionaries with my prayer, and that’ll be enough’. Enough for what? We, as Christians are all called to be missionaries, no matter where we are. I don’t think it’s a case of ‘I feel God calling me here’ or ‘I feel God calling me there’. I believe God calls you wherever you are to be a missionary. If your skill is international relations or languages, then God is calling you to minister in that area. If your skills are in accounting or window cleaning, than God is calling you to use those skills for the glory of him and the furthering of his Kingdom.

ASK YOURSELF: What are your gifts and abilities? How can you use those gifts to be a missionary?

Dear God, I pray that you will help me to always put you ahead of my own desires for earthly comfort and welfare. Give me the desire to reach the lost. Thank you for blessing me with the skills and abilities you have given me. Help me to see the opportunities to love others.

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Romans 1:8

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.

It is noted that most ancient greco-roman letters began with a thanksgiving and a prayer section. Paul follows this pattern in most of his letters, and vv.8-12 is Paul’s thanksgiving and prayer messages to the Romans. One can see, here in v.8, that Paul doesn’t know the Romans personally because the thing he thanks God for is that the Romans’ faith being reported all over the world. Furthermore, there is a continuing theme of Paul wanting to build good rapport with the Romans, as one of his purposes in writing is to admonish some of their matters of theology, while still maintaining that both he and the Romans share a faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

How does giving thanks to God… work?  There seems to be differences from church to church and even household to household about whether people begin their prayers as ‘Dear God’ or ‘Dear Jesus’. Is either a theologically correct way of praying?Paul here in v.8 says ‘I thank my God through Jesus Christ’. That would imply, as Douglas Moo writes, that ‘[it is] an indication that Christ is the one who has created the access to God for such thanks to be offered.’  Looking in the Bible, all the prayers in the Old Testament are directed to ‘Lord’ or ‘God’, because Jesus had not come to earth yet. In the New Testament, which is mainly made up of letters from Paul, there seems to be a bit more of a split between praying to ‘Jesus’ or ‘God’. The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), which is the Jesus tells his followers to pray, begins with ‘Our Father in Heaven,’- that is God. When we pray to Jesus or the Holy Spirit, we are ultimately still praying to God, because they are all part of the trinity. As John Piper says, ‘Pray to God the Father in the power of God the Spirit, by the authority and the merit of God the Son’. For more on this topic, check out ‘Should I Pray to the Father, the Son, or the Spirit?‘ on Desiring God’s website.

ASK YOURSELF: How is your prayer life? Are you in constant conversation with God throughout your day?

Dear God, I pray that you will help me see the beauty and wonder that is a relationship with you. Thank you for everything you bless me with. Please help those around me to see you as the source of their blessings. Thank you for everything you do to point me towards a reliance on you. Amen.

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Romans 1:7

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.

V.7 concludes the opening ‘greetings’ paragraph of Romans by letting the readers know, through salutations that were somewhat unique in standard ancient letter writing, that he wishes Grace and Peace to all in Rome. Not only that, but Paul is saying where the source of grace and peace comes from: God and Jesus. In our modern thinking it can be so easy to gloss over sentences that we have heard thousands of times, but back then, this teaching to the Jews in Rome was somewhat revolutionary and against what the believed (about Jesus being the Christ). In addition, Paul is saying that all (Jews and Gentiles) in Rome are called to be his holy people, not just the nation of Israel as they were in the Old Testament.

ASK YOURSELF: Do you have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ? What elements of a human relationship could be an analogy for your relationship with God?

Dear God, I thank you for enabling me to be in a right relationship with you. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross. I know I don’t deserve all these blessings.

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Romans 1:6

And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Just for a contextual reminder, v.6 is in Paul’s opening greetings in his letter to the Romans. In the preceding verse, Paul explains that it is his special commission from God to reach out specifically to the Gentiles; ‘to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for [Jesus Christ] name’s sake.’ Here is v.6 Paul is telling the Romans that they fall into the category of people whom he is called to minister to. The other important message of this verse is the Gentiles are called to belong to Jesus Christ; they are being invited to belong to Jesus Christ. But all this talk of Gentiles. Who exactly were/are Gentiles?

The word ‘Gentile’ is Latin, stemming from gentilis which means family or clan. In most contexts, Gentile just means non-Jew. Therefore I’m a Gentile; I’m not Jewish. So who are the people that Paul is referring to as ‘Gentiles’ in Romans and where did they come from? Unfortunately there’s no consensus on where the Gentile Christians in Rome originated, because it definitely wasn’t directly from Paul. Theories for the origin of the Gentile Christians range from Roman Jews traveled to Jerusalem and returned to Rome to found the Christian church, to Christians from the various regions traveled to Rome and started the church without specific a specific church leader. There were definitely already a good number of Jews in Rome because Claudius felt the need to expel them (in ~50AD) from the city (Acts 18), as the Jews were trying to convert the Gentiles to Judaism. When Paul delivered the letter to the Romans (~55AD), the Jews were already allowed to return to Rome. What made the Gentiles and Jews different was their beliefs, mainly around who Jesus was and what was required to have a right relationship with God.  As we continue through Romans, we’ll definitely see a very clear divide between the two, and what caused the two groups to not work well together for the gospel.

ASK YOURSELF: Are you aware of all the other belief systems/denominations out there? Which align with the Christian worldview and which have differences?

I pray God that you will open my eyes to my Christian brother and sisters around the globe. Don’t let us be prideful for the denomination we belong to, but let us always remember what our mission is on this earth; bringing you glory and praise.

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Romans 1:5

Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.

After the gospel layout in vv.3-4, Paul resumes his personal introduction in v.5, and I paraphrase here to understand what the wording of the sentence: ‘I received the grace of being commissioned, from God’s son, to call the Gentiles to be obedient. This obedience comes from faith in Jesus Christ’. (The ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ in my paraphrasing is because in his letters,Paul often uses plurals when talking about himself, and in this case v.1 shows Paul is just introducing himself.) Although Paul felt his special commission from God was to reach the Gentiles, he definitely preached to the Jews as well.

We’ll see the theme of obedience and faith come up a number of times in Romans because it’s one of the cornerstones of being a christian. When I first went through Romans in depth over a year ago, this topic, obedience and faith, was very exciting to have clarified. The clarification for me, and you might have the same question, is what comes first; obedience for what God asks of us, or faith in God? Does faith lead to obedience or does obedience lead to faith? As Moo puts it, ‘obedience always involves faith, and faith always involves obedience’. One does not come after or before the other. In this verse, Paul is saying that his apostleship (special commission from God) isn’t just to bring the Gentiles to faith, but to bring them to obedience in the continual spread of the gospel.

You can see how this works if we take faith and obedience to their extremes. A woman with complete faith in God that he will provide for her will take risks to be obedient and spread the gospel to the ends of the earth and love others. A man with no faith that God is going to provide for him is going to spend his time seeking comfort from earthly things, and little to no time being obedient. The woman with complete faith couldn’t not be obedient, knowing what God does in her life, and the man with no faith wouldn’t be obedient, because there is no benefit in being obedient to a cause without faith of benefit or consequence. (you might find my post ‘Are we to pray for physical matters?‘ interesting)

ASK YOURSELF: Do you see both faith and obedience in your life? Which one do you think is most deficit, and is that result of deficit in the other area as well?

I pray, God, that you will give me the strength to increase my faith and obedience. Let me know that you are worth obeying wholeheartedly. Let me know that I can put my complete faith and trust in you, leaving nothing left for my own anxieties and pride. 

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Romans 1:4

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.

This is what I would call a ‘Wait, What?’ verse; a verse that potentially tells me something theological I have never heard before, and could take a while to get my head around. It’s good to know with this verse, however, that I’m not alone in not being able to come to a 100% definitive understanding of this verse. If you read the commentaries and the research, there are many different questions that commentators and scholars look to answer here in v.4. For instance is it the ‘Spirit of holiness’ (as in the Holy Spirit) or ‘spirit of holiness’ (Jesus’ spirit of faithfulness to God)? And is this verse saying that Jesus wasn’t Son of God until after the Resurrection? If this is the case, then who was he before?

This verse is an important theological statement that Paul wrote to the Romans as part of his greetings. As a continuation of v.3, in v.4 Paul is further clarifying that Jesus Christ is the messiah, he is the Son of God, and his Resurrection was very important for both the Roman Jews and Gentiles. In regards to answering what the ‘Spirit of holiness’ is referring to, the short answer is no one knows for sure how the Romans would have understood this passage, but there is a strong consensus that is refers to Jesus’ ‘obedience and faithfulness to God’ because ‘Spirit of holiness’ is only used in this verse in the New Testament and when the Holy Spirit is talked about elsewhere, it is referred to as the Holy Spirit.

Answering the other fundamental question ‘When did Jesus become the Son of God?’, we must look at the adverb ‘appointed’. To say that Jesus was only appointed Son of God at the time of the Resurrection is to say before that point, Jesus was just another dude (This is called adoptionism Christology). Jesus was and is eternally the Son of God and messiah, sent to earth to save the world because us humans aren’t able to help ourselves. What he was appointed at the Resurrection is Son of God in power, able to save us sinners.

ASK YOURSELF: What do you believe? Do you believe in adoptionist Christology or functional Christology? How important to the sharing of the gospel are these distinctions?

I pray today that God will give me wisdom and understanding for the difficult questions, and peace that I won’t be able to understand everything as a fallible human, but this won’t stop me from sharing your love with those around me.