For today, I got through chapter 6...man, it is heavy slogging trying to blitz through Romans!  This is some deep stuff, and I am fired up about opening this up and really getting into it!  This is going to be great.  As far as these 6 chapters go, I kind of got 3 over-arching themes out of the reading this morning, and as we go on a more chapter-by-chapter basis, it will be interesting to see if these are the prevailing themes that capture the conversation, or if we get into some different topics as we slow down and dive deeper.

The first theme is the idea of recognizing that there IS a benefit to being Jewish, it just isn’t related to God’s grace and our salvation.  One of the tensions in this church in Rome (and, as we said during the introductions to Romans, it is a tension that still exists in the church today) is this tension between the Jews and the Gentiles.  The Jews grew up under the Law, working on their behaviors, trying to EARN God’s love and attention.  It is ingrained in them that they must earn Grace.  Now they are being told it is free.  Further, these folks who have been out partying last night while they were in studying their scriptures are going to spend eternity in heaven with them - that doesn’t seem fair.  In reality, there is an element of relatability to that - it kind of isn’t fair.  But, Paul actually explains that (a) it IS fair when you understand Jesus fully, and (b) there IS a benefit to being Jewish and growing up under the law; that benefit isn’t related to the receipt of salvation though.  So, you can go to heaven without being a Jew, but that doesn’t make being a Jew a worthless endeavor.

Another big idea that Paul teases out is this dichotomy of whether we are sinners who are saved vs. saints who sin.  If I were to ask you, “As a Christian, in God’s eyes, are you a sinner who does good at times or are you saint who occasionally sins?”, what would you say?  Paul has a clear opinion on this...and we should too.  I will never forget when a good friend of mine asked me that question several years ago...it has stuck with me.  Though it is an almost quippy question, it is very profound in its implications.  God’s opinion of us, once we’ve accepted Jesus as our Savior, is that we are saints.  We are made righteous in God’s eyes.  It’s not that God has amnesia and forgets our sins.  It is that God imputes Jesus’ goodness on us, and we are saints who sin on occasion.

The last theme that Paul seems to really address is this idea of abusing grace.  There is certainly some relatability to the idea that if grace is free, then grace can be abused.  I mean, why not accept Jesus into our lives, understanding that grace is now ours and that we will spend eternity in heaven, and then turn around and do what we want in this life - sinning away!?!  Well, that kind of seems reasonable at first glance.  But, there is a cost to that...not a cost in terms of God’s love, but in terms of our experience in this life.  Paul unpacks this one theologically, but I think the BEST argument against this comes when we read the entire New Testament as a whole, and if we throw in some of the wisdom literature from the Old Testament.  In short, we are made by God for a purpose, and we will always find our greatest joy in life when we are living into that purpose.  We can find bouts of happiness or fun, which stands in contrast to true joy in life, by doing what we want, when we want, with whom we want; but joy comes when we lean into what God has for us, when we actually start to experience God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit, and when are inner most desires are actually starting to match up with God’s will for our lives.  That’s where real joy comes.  That’s what we should be reaching for...that day when what we want is what God wants for us.