Gilbert House Fellowship

LETTERS FROM Paul in Rome are the focus of this week's New Testament study, and there is a lot of meat here. Paul addressed errant teachings that threatened to undermine the gospel of salvation by grace through faith at Colossae and Ephesus.

It appears some teachers had arrived preaching that Gentiles needed to follow the Law of Moses to be saved. Paul was very direct about that:

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Colossians 2:16-17 (ESV)

Paul also addressed ongoing hostility between Jews and Gentiles, pointing out that the "wall of hostility" between the groups had been destroyed at the Cross, the worship of angels, and the proper roles of husbands, wives, and bondservants as followers of Jesus Christ.

PAUL TRAVELED to Rome in A.D. 60, but not the way he would have wanted. Getting a ride on an Alexandrian grain ship, the biggest vessels crossing the Mediterranean Sea in the 1st century, Paul and his traveling companions, which included Luke and Aristarchus among the 276 people aboard the ship, suffered through a storm that blew them off course and left them adrift for a couple weeks. They finally ran the ship aground at Malta where the spent the winter before completing his journey to Rome.

For the interview with Mark Gatt, author of PAVLVS: The Shipwreck 60 A.D., on his discovery of the anchor from the ship that delivered Paul to Malta, go to http://www.vftb.net/?p=4866.

PRAISE THE Lord! That's the theme of the Psalms in today's Old Testament study. We examine a half dozen psalms of praise and find divine council language, making it clear that the psalmists knew that other gods existed, but only one God, Yahweh, created all the rest.

Again this week, we encounter a verse that's especially timely for us Americans, given the presidential election this past week.

We also return to the reign of Solomon in the historical books, discussing his marriage to the daughter of pharaoh and his business ventures with Hiram, king of Tyre.

PAUL RETURNS to Jerusalem in this week's study, as we return to Luke's historical account of Paul's journey, in spite of warnings from believers from Asia to Judea that he would be arrested and possibly killed. But Paul already knew that, since he'd been warned by the Holy Spirit that this is what God had in store for him.

We also discuss Paul's teachings for Christian living to the church at Rome, which includes some much-needed instruction that's timely even today on being careful not to make ourselves stumbling blocks to others.

THE CONSECRATION of the Temple on Mount Zion is the focus of this week's Old Testament study. Solomon prays a prayer of dedication and asks the Lord to always see and hear his people when they call on His Name for forgiveness.

Interestingly, we notice that Yahweh told Solomon that when — not if — He allowed drought, pestilence, or war to afflict His people, if they humble themselves and repent, "then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

We also discuss the use of call and response psalms like Psalm 136 as a tool to encourage students to memorize scripture, and we observe how often we encounter verses that reinforce the Divine Council worldview, which would make Sunday School a lot more interesting to kids if we taught it!

IT IS appropriate (and unplanned — by us, anyway), but appropriate — that our last New Testament study before the U.S. presidential election includes Romans 13:1-7. It is a command to Christians to "be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."

That's not exactly a message we want to hear, especially after eight years of an administration that has repeatedly promoted initiatives that are opposed to biblical morality. But Paul wrote to the church at Rome during the reign of Nero, and if there ever was a time to call for Christian resistance to government, it was then.

Our reading today focuses on what should be our proper focus. Our minds should be set on things of the spirit, not things of the flesh, and we should be prepared not only to tolerate and forgive an enemy, but to feed and clothe them in their need, "for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Paul again here emphasizes that loving our neighbors as we love ourselves fulfills the Law.

We also discuss the predestination, the relationship between Gentile believers and Jews, and how our role in God's divine plan includes making the Jews jealous so that they come to accept Jesus as Messiah.

He concludes this section with a wonderful reminder of why we need to be about the Lord's business now more than ever:

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Romans 13:11-12 (ESV)

WE RETURN to history in our Old Testament study this week. Our readings describe the process and design of the Temple built by Solomon.

The raw materials and expertise were supplied by Hiram, king of Tyre — who, incidentally, introduced the worship of Melqart to Tyre. Melqart was the Ba`al that was worshiped by Jezebel, wife of Ahab, and whose priests were defeated by Elijah in the showdown on Mount Carmel. Melqart was the Phoenician name for the Greek demigod Heracles — Hercules. (But we digress.)

We read through the dimensions and design for the Temple, explain why the cherubim in the Temple were not angels the way most of us think, and comment on the Temple as a representation of God's holy mountain, Eden.

THE RELATIONSHIP between the Law and grace is central to our New Testament study this week. Paul makes it clear that while the Law instructs us on the nature of sin, it does not help us overcome sin. That is the work of grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans is the longest of Paul's letters, and the one in which he most thoroughly lays out the doctrine of salvation. This is why the "Romans Road" is such a valuable a witnessing tool.

Here is the link to Derek's presentation on the history of ghosts, witches, vampires, and werewolves for Halloween for SkyWatchTV (link opens a YouTube video).

WE CONTINUE through the Book of Proverbs in this week's Old Testament study. Included are exhortations to seek and value wisdom, to avoid laziness and women of ill repute, and to train children in the way they should go — a command that is increasingly out of step with our world today, which is embracing the idea that children should be free to choose their own paths even when they run counter to the wishes of their parents.

Click here for the complete archive of our New Testament Bible studies to date, and click here for the Old Testament studies to date.