Romans
The Battle With Sin
Having explained what the Law does, Paul now explains what the Law cannot do. The Law cannot set you free (v. 14). Paul doesn’t understand why he acts the way he does (vv. 15-20). What he doesn’t want to do he ends up doing and what he wants to do he ends up not doing. The Law cannot …
Religion Will Not Take You to Heaven
Few people were more religious than young Paul of Tarsus. He knew all about religious orthodoxy and how it can make a sincere and zealous person the very enemy of Christ. Orthodoxy in religion requires both access to the truth and accountability to the truth. Paul was speaking to Jews who …
The Promise for All Who Have Faith
Those who are trying for salvation often lean on either their own imagined goodness or some kind of religious observance or a combination of both. In the previous passages we have seen how the Jews boasted in circumcision and the law. Paul has already made it clear that there must be an …
God’s Everlasting Love
We know God will never fail us, but we might wonder, can we fail Him? Suppose some trial or temptation comes our way and we fail Him? Then what? Paul deals with that problem in this passage and explains that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. God permits trials to …
Anyone Can be Saved
This section of scripture emphasizes the difference between righteousness by the law, and righteousness by faith …
Alive or Dead it Must be For The Lord
In the previous passage Paul asked the weak Christian, “Why are you judging your brother?” Then he asked the strong Christian, “Why are you despising your brother?” Both the strong and the weak will one day stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. They will not be judging each other, but …
What does the phrase, “wrath of God” mean?
What do you think of when you hear that phrase, “wrath of Godâ€? It is true that hell is an expression of the wrath of God, but that is not what it means in these verses. Many think of the wrath of God as thunder and lightning, and judgment, fire and brimstone, and the sudden destruction that comes …
Paul’s Closing Prayer
We find here a great roll call of heroes (vv. 21-24). Timothy was mentioned first as he was often in the book of Acts and the Epistles. He was Paul’s “son in the faith” and labored with him in many difficult places. He was a key person in the growth of the early church, traveling with Paul on his …
Paul Requests Prayer For The Ministry
Too often we view prayer as a time for comfort, reflection, or making our requests known to God. But in verse 30 Paul urges believers to join in his struggles by means of prayer. Prayer is also a weapon in all believers’ armor as we intercede for others who join in the fight against Satan …
Sonship Through The Spirit
Paul now draws application from his previous discussion that each believer has a responsibility to live each day in the control and power of the Holy Spirit (vv. 12-17). It is not enough for us to have the Spirit; the Spirit must have us. Furthermore, each Christian is to refuse to follow the …