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It seems to me that this text is saying that if Jesus is the Lord, then who are we to judge others? This is true, according to the text, whether they are even a Christian or not. We will all appear before the judgment seat of God [Christ].

Romans 14:1-12 Rom 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. Rom 14:2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Rom 14:3 The one who eats is not to regard with…

Subtitled: “Was Saul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?”N. T. Wright published this book in 1997. This book is a great book and is quite readable. Wright takes the phrase “the righteousness of God” to mean God’s own righteousness rather than a forensic, imputed righteousness that man gets from God. Wright demonstrates that this…

The Lectionary text for last week and the Lectionary text for this week have a large gap of the first verses of Romans 13. That section of Scripture skips the text which speaks of the government’s use of the sword as a messenger of God. These verses are a clearly support for the Death Penalty.…

Lectionary text Romans 13:8-14 Rom 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.Rom 13:9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed…

Usually the problem with a text is getting to where we can understand the text. That’s not the case with Romans 12:9-21. I think that we understand it just fine. Our problem is not understanding the text, it is doing the text. Treating each other as Christ would have us treat each other is a…

I just don’t buy it. One common argument is given that the burning coals poured on someone’s head were actually a good thing. Allegedly the people at that time carried coal baskets on their heads. Putting burning coals into their basket was to keep them warm. I don’t buy it. How can this be anything…

Our Debt to E. P. SandersWright’s book, What Saint Paul Really Said points out the debt that we owe to E. P. Sanders. The central point of Sanders was that “Judaism in Paul’s day was not, as has regularly been supposed, a religion of legalistic works-righteousness.” (pp 18-19). This is the key point in properly…

Let love be without hypocrisy.Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing…

The unofficial N. T. Wright page has quite a few of Dr. Wright’s writings and some audio files as well.

These are directly from N. T. Wright’s paper New Perspectives in Paul. Stating the five points in the positive. When Paul refers to ‘the gospel’, he is to the proclamation that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth has been raised from the dead and thereby demonstrated to be both Israel’s Messiah and the world’s true Lord.…

Romans 10:6-7 are admittedly tough verses. Testing them against the standard Reformed views of these passage is quite informative. Something is seriously wrong with the standard Reformed views of this passage. The problem posed by these passage is not the passage in and of itself, but in the passage that they are quotes from. They…

This week’s Lectionary Text is Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32: Rom 11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.Rom 11:2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknewRom 11:29 for the gifts and…

The Lectionary is a weekly selection of Biblical texts. Two of the texts are taken from the Old Testament and two come out of the New Testament. One of the Old Testament texts is from the Psalms. One of the New Testament texts is taken from the Gospels and the other text is taken from…

It may be too early to say for sure but it seems quite possible to me that N. T. Wright may be the next Martin Luther. Luther shot across the bow of the church with his understanding of justification found in his reading of Romans. Wright is reading Romans with fresh eyes in our day.…

Test cases are almost the reverse of proof texts. A test case is a passage that is run through a paradigm to see if the paradigm can work with the test cases. A set of proof tests is used to construct a paradigm. Theological systems are paradigms. My last BLOG entry consisted of one such…

I have been a Christian for a over 25 years and have struggled in one way or another with one question above all other questions during my years. The question centers around the relationship of the Christian and the Law. Where the problem comes in is with the seemingly irreconcilable passages where Christ and Paul…

Romans 10:5-15 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness, which is based on law, shall live by that righteousness. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’…

The Old Testament quotations in Romans 10:6-8 are much tougher to make sense of. The text is: Rom 10:6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down),Rom 10:7 or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is,…

Rom 10:5-15 has a number of interesting quotes of the Old Testament. I am struggling to figure out exactly what Paul intends with these quotes. The first quote is an indirect quote Moses from Levitcus. Paul wrote: Rom 10:5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall…

For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to…

Few topics have caused as much controversy in the Evangelical churches as that of the relationship of the church and Israel. Much of this controversy comes from the popularity of End Times books by Tim LaHaye. Having failed to have a lasting effect in the scholarly community, modern Dispensationalists, like LaHaye, have taken up the…

The Lectionary is a weekly selection of Biblical texts. Two of the texts are taken from the Old Testament and two come out of the New Testament. One of the Old Testament texts is from the Psalms. One of the New Testament texts is taken from the Gospels and the other text is taken from…

Lectionary Text – Rom 8:1-11 Series: Help for the helpless Message: No Condemnation Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not…

Series: Help for the Helpless Message: Hope for the future Romans 8:12-25 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh– for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the…