Romans 1:18-32 The wrath of God is real, and it's NOT the gospel

Although the central message of Romans is the gospel, just as with the entire canon of Scripture, not all in Romans is the gospel. We see this now as he describes the wrath of God, contrasted with the righteousness of God in the previous verse. The wrath of God is related to the gospel in a negative sense but it is NOT the gospel.

Recall how Paul said, later in this letter, that where sin abounds grace much more abounds. By this he means grace is always more than sufficient, it outshines sin. In the same way, the holiness of God is better seen by us mortal when contrasted against our sinful nature – as when Isaiah was confronted with this contrast. So we have it here: the righteousness of YHWH is more clearly seen by us when we see a bit of His wrath. Christ Jesus suffered the wrath of God on our account so we would have His righteousness. The more clearly we see and understand His wrath, the more clearly we will comprehend the imputed righteousness we have been given and the cost paid for it by our Lord. 

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TRADITION!

Traditions. We have them. We run into trouble when we teach them as the commandments of God. Let us be careful and sober minded about our traditions, willing to examine them and cast aside those that cause people to stumble.

Tevye, Jewish patriarch in Fiddler on the Roof...

 

It’s a very busy, tedious, hard-scratch life in Anatevka. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word!             Tradition!

 

Because of our traditions, we've kept our balance for many, many years. Here in Anatevka, we have traditions for everything. How to sleep. How to eat. How to work. How to wear clothes. For instance, we always keep our heads covered, and always wear a little prayer shawl. This shows our constant devotion to God.

 

You may ask, how did this tradition get started? I'll tell you. I don't know.

 

But it's a tradition. And because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as,   As...  As a fiddler on the roof!

 As his family responds to the various circumstances of life, they each tear apart Tevye’s sacred traditions bit by bit. His traditions were not transcendent; their foundation was uncertain. 

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Romans 1:1-17 Paul, an Apostle of Christ

Verses 1 – 7 form one complex sentence. This makes me wonder what they were thinking when they assigned verse numbers to Scripture. As Paul starts this letter, he identifies himself. Why is important for Paul to be known as he has described himself here?

In calling himself a servant or slave to Christ, he draws a line between the two kingdoms, which he will go into more detail in chapter 6 as he teaches that there is no neutral zone in the spiritual realm (Gal 1:10). In claiming to be called to be an apostle he is establishing his authority to instruct the church (1 Cor 9:1). What qualified a man to be called an apostle and why is it important? (Acts 1:15-22)

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