Paul says that God has not cast away His people, the Israelites. ”For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, ‘Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life?’”

Remember after Elijah had the showdown on Mt. Carmel in our June 11th reading, Elijah thought he was alone (1 Kings 18-19). But God encouraged him by saying, “‘I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” Throughout the Story of the Bible there is always a remnant who walk by faith with the Lord and the same is true today.

Paul says, because of the Jews’ lack of faith, salvation came to the Gentiles in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy and save some of them. Then Paul warns the Gentiles not to boast in their salvation since it is all a gift from God by grace. He says that any Jew who puts their faith in Jesus Christ will also be saved…or as Paul puts it, they will be grafted into the olive tree.

Paul explains that Israel is still God’s chosen one. At this point in time the majority of Israelites have rejected Christ as their Savior resulting in the gospel being spread to the Gentiles. But there will be a day in the future that God will show mercy to Israel because “they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.” The Lord is going to keep His promise He made to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Paul exhorts the believers to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God…And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Paul tells them not to view themselves more highly than others within the body of Christ. “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them.” And use them with love and good works toward one another.

Paul explains that God is the one in charge of placing people in positions of authority. “Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves…Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake…Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”

We end the reading with Paul telling the Romans not to judge one another. “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ…So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Tomorrow Paul concludes his letter to the Romans and begins a second letter to the Corinthians. Keep reading.

(Romans 11:1-14:23)

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Paul, still writing to the Romans, says that no suffering can compare to the future glory we will have with our new resurrected bodies and the new heaven and earth. And although we will suffer for a short period of time here on earth, God uses everything for our good, including our suffering. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Paul states that if God is for us than nothing can be against us; not “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword.” “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” For nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul grieves the fact that His people, the Jews, are not all saved. However, Paul says that God never said everyone would be saved. He illustrates this point by taking the Romans back to the Patriarch Era with Abraham. He says although Abraham has more than one child, the promise came through the chosen son, Isaac. “And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’”

Paul explains that God is righteous and He can do whatever He wants to do with His creation. “For He says to Moses, ’I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.”

We are all sinners deserving of death. God shows His just wrath against our sin to highlight His abundant mercy and grace to us who are deserving of death. In God’s mercy, He sent His son to die a death that we deserve so that Jews and Gentiles may be reconciled to God by grace through faith in Christ.

Paul says that Isaiah prophesied that not all the Israelites, but just a remnant, would be saved by faith. “God’s sovereignty is compatible with human responsibility. Israel should have believed the gospel and trusted in Christ, but the majority refused to do so. Still, God’s saving promises will be fulfilled.” (ESV Study Bible)

The stumbling block to the Israelites is their pursuit of righteousness through the law and not through faith. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Paul says, “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved…For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

We end the reading with Paul teaching on the importance of sharing the gospel message with others. “As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’”

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” This is why it is so important to share the Good News of Christ! Keep reading.

(Romans 8:18-10:21)

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“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Paul goes on to explain that through Adam’s disobedience sin, judgement, and condemnation came to all men. But through Jesus’s righteous act of obedience, death on the cross, “the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

We were all once slaves to our sin but Paul says to the Christians, “For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” Paul says that the acts of sin brings about no fruit in one’s life but once you become a slave to God, “you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul explains that God’s law exposes our sin. And although Christians will still sin, there is no longer any pleasure in the sinful acts; rather Christians grieve sin which leads to repentance and turning from sin. Paul shares his own personal struggle. “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” This is the battle between the flesh and the Spirit that all Christians experience. The Holy Spirit that dwells within Christians is the One to convict us and lead us to repentance.

However, since Christians’ righteousness is not based on their actions but rather based on Jesus Christ’s righteousness, there is “no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

“So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Keep reading.

(Romans 5:1-8:17)

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Today Paul tells the Romans that God is the judge of all and “whoever you are who judge, for whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same thing.” So Paul says instead of judging each other’s sins, repent of your own sin to avoid the wrath of God. For God “‘will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil…For there is no partiality with God.”

Paul calls out the Jews for honoring God with their mouths but breaking the law with their actions. He says “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” and their disobedience as God’s chosen people.

Paul is concerned about the state of their hearts and tells them that a Jew “is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”

Paul says we are ALL sinners incapable of perfectly keeping the law but the good news is that we are not judged by the law; the law exposes our sin and our need for a Savior. “For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus…Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”

Paul explains that Abraham was justified by his faith before the law was ever given. “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’” Abraham received the sign of circumcision as “a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.”

“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” And the same righteousness that was imputed to Abraham shall be “imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”

More to the Romans tomorrow so keep reading.

(Romans 2:1-4:25)

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Today Paul concludes his first letter to the Corinthians by asking that a collection be taken up for the Christians in need in Jerusalem. Paul says he will come to take the collection back to Jerusalem but he isn’t leaving Ephesus until after Pentecost. In the meantime Paul says Timothy is on his way and he urges them to “watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong, let all that you do be done with love.”

Back in Ephesus, “there arose a great commotion about the Way.” A silversmith named Demetrius is upset that people are converting to Christianity and no longer buying his handmade false gods, which is negatively impacting his cash flow. Money appears to be the motivating factor for Demetrius’s work but he raises a claim guised under religious convictions. Demetrius says, “Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands. So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.”

When the people hear this, they are filled with wrath and seize Paul’s companions. But since Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen did not have a legitimate charge against them, the city clerk lets them go.

“After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia.” Paul and his companions visit the church in Macedonia and when they make their way to Corinth they remain there for 3 months. “Paul wrote Romans from Corinth, toward the end of his third missionary journey, AD 54.”

In the letter to the Roman church, Paul says, “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world…For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ “

Paul explains that we, as sinners, need salvation through Jesus Christ bc “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Paul says that the people did not glorify the holy God but instead took pleasure in sin, which led to spiritual and moral decay including sexual lust, homosexuality, and a corrupt mind.

But there is always hope for sinners through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Tomorrow Paul will explain how Christ took our punishment so that we may be deemed righteous and restored to God. Keep reading.

(1 Corinthians 16:1-24, Acts 19:21-20:6, Romans 1:1-32)

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Paul says, “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.” He goes on to say that a person speaking in tongue does not benefit the church unless they have an interpreter who can translate for others. Paul warns the Corinthians not to speak in tongues within the body of the church without an interpreter in case an unbeliever visits the church and assumes they are out of their minds. Therefore, Paul encourages prophesy within the body because unbelievers can understand prophesy, a word from the Lord, which could lead an unbeliever to conviction, repentance, and salvation.

There is obviously some disorderly conduct within the church concerning people with the gift of tongues, prophesy, and the women speaking out of turn. So Paul gives them a warning to keep silent within the gathering of the church. “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

Women hardly had any rights during this time. Therefore, Paul tells the women of Corinth church to keep silent and be submissive, as the law says. But as Sarah Ruden explains in Paul Among the People, Paul flips the culture by saying, “and if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home.” Paul is all about bringing equality among the Christians. This is why Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Paul then begins teaching them about resurrection, starting with Christ. He says that after Jesus’s resurrection, ”He was seen by Cephas [Peter], then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”

”But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”

Paul explains that when Jesus returns and puts an end to evil for good, all who have resurrected will receive new bodies raised up in glory. He says when the last trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised incorruptible. ”So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Tomorrow we read the closing remarks to the Corinthians and Paul writes to the Romans. Keep reading.

(1 Corinthians 14:1-15:58)

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Today Paul addresses some issues concerning corporate worship. He first speaks to husbands and wives. “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” Paul says that although men and women have different roles, they are both of equal value to the Lord. “Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.”

Paul says that women should keep their heads covered during worship. Sarah Ruden explains this in her book, Paul Among the People: “Respectable Greek and Roman women traditionally wore concealing veils in public. Marriage and widowhood were the chief things that a veil signaled…The veil was the flag of female virtue, status, and security. In the port city of Corinth, with its batteries of prostitutes – including the sacred prostitutes of the temple of Aphrodite – the distinction between veiled and unveiled women would have been even more crucial.” She goes on to explain how society was changing at that time; “slaves being freed; divorce proliferating; many more women entering into trades other than their most common trade of prostitution – any or all of these things could have made the veil a matter of controversy.” In one of her concluding comments Ruden says, “I think Paul’s rule aimed toward an outrageous equality. All Christian women were to cover their heads in church, without distinction of beauty, wealth, respectability – or of privilege so great as to allow toying with traditional appearances.” You gotta love Paul’s outrageous pursuit of human equality!

Next Paul rebukes the Corinthians for carelessly taking the Lord’s supper. Before Jesus was crucified, He gave His disciples bread which represented His body and wine which represented His blood of the new covenant. Then Jesus told His disciples to take the bread and wine in remembrance of Him pouring out His blood for the sins of many. (Matthew 26:26-28) The Lord’s supper is not to be taken lightly. Therefore Paul says, “For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgement to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

Paul then moves into discussing spiritual gifts. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.”

Paul says that although the church is made up of many different people with differing gifts, they are still one body. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.” “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

We end the reading with Paul telling them the most important, above any gifting, is having love. Then Paul explains what love is – “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Keep reading.

(1 Corinthians 11:2-13:13)

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The Corinthians are wrestling with whether they can eat meat purchased at the temple markets that has been sacrificed to idols. Paul tells them that there is only one God so food sacrificed to the false gods doesn’t really matter since those gods are nothing.

Some Corinthians have this knowledge so they freely eat the meat with a clear conscience. But other Corinthians do not have this knowledge so eating the meat sacrificed to idols weighs on their conscience. Therefore Paul tells them, ”But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak…But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”

Paul is less concerned about the food and more concerned about the Corinthians’ care for one another. He does not want them to be puffed up with their knowledge but to have love for each other.

Paul uses his life as an example to them. He says that he lives in a way to further the gospel no matter the cost to him. Although Paul has the right to be financially supported by the church, he chooses to support himself. Paul says, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel…What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.”

“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more…I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.”

Paul warns the Corinthians not to become idolaters, sexually immoral, and complainers like the people did in the wilderness with Moses during the Exodus Era – “Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

The Israelites were not unique with their idolatry, sexual sin, and complaining. Paul explains that we ALL suffer from temptations in this lifetime, “but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God…just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.”

Keep reading.

(1 Corinthians 8:1-11-1)

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Paul tells the Corinthians not to judge one another or boast in themselves as they have all received a gift that no one earned; the Holy Spirit and salvation by grace through faith. Paul describes his life and the lives of those truly following Christ, which is quite the opposite of fame and public platforms – “To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.”

Therefore, he warns Corinthians not to be haughty but to imitate him. And since Paul can’t be there with them he sent faithful Timothy, “who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.”

Paul rebukes the Corinthians for allowing a man who was sleeping with his dad’s wife to remain in the church. Paul tells them to “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” So the purpose of church discipline is ultimately for the spiritual good of the one being disciplined as well as the welfare of the ones inside the church. Allowing unrepentant sin to continue could negatively influence others as “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.”

Paul goes on to tell them to “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Paul explains that sex is to be within the boundaries of marriage between a man and a woman. And the husband and wife do not need to deprive one another of sex “so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

Paul tells them not to divorce, even if they are married to an unbeliever. “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy…For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?” God is the one who saves; however, Paul is saying that the believer’s life has a positive impact on the children and can lead the spouse to faith. Therefore, your marriage and your spouse’s salvation are something to entrust to the Lord.

Paul does say that there are perks to not being married. The unmarried have fewer distractions and can therefore be more focused on worship and missions. But Paul tells everyone to be content with where they are when called by the Lord, regardless of the situation, married or not.

Tomorrow, more from Paul to the Corinthians. Keep reading.

(1 Corinthians 4:1-7:40)

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Today we meet a Jewish man named Apollos, “an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures,” who comes to Ephesus. “When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” Apollos goes on to refute “the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.”

Paul arrives in Ephesus and baptizes the believers in the name of Jesus. “And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them…” “And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months…But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”

From Ephesus, Paul writes a letter to the church in Corinth. He tells them not to fight over who baptized them but to be one in Christ; “no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Paul says that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Paul reminds them that he came to them in weakness. “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

For “no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

Since Paul and Apollos are just ministers of the Lord through whom the new converts believed, Paul tells them that they do not need to quarrel over which one baptized them. Paul explains how sharing the Gospel works – ”I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”

Tomorrow more from Paul to the Corinthians. Keep reading.

(Acts 18:24-19:20,1 Corinthians 1:1-3:18)

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