The church of Christ on McDermott Road

Scripture: Genesis 2

Paul throughly understood the thinking of both the weak and the strong. Paul began his letter promoting peace by telling the Torah-observant Jews, who judged the Gentile world as wicked and sinful, they were essentially correct in their judgment. However, in condemning the Gentiles for their unrighteousness, they were also condemning themselves. The weak judged everyone for not living up to the standards of the Torah, but they did not live up to its standards either. Do we ever fall into the trap of this sort of self-righteousness? Do we ever look down our noses at others for not living up to a standard that we ourselves don’t meet? The only way to live at peace with one another is to acknowledge the truth: we all need a Savior! (Scripture: Romans 2:1-11)

Scripture: Acts 27

Paul argued that people are justified (set right with God and put into a right relationship with him) not by observing the demands of the Torah, but by faith in Jesus. The sort of faith Paul promoted was not simply mental assent to an idea, but loyalty to Jesus as King and trust that the promises of God are being fulfilled in Christ. On this basis alone, both Jews and Greeks can be in right relationship with God. As with the rest of the letter, Paul’s motive in writing was not merely theological accuracy (as important as that is), but Christian unity. He wanted peace between Jews and Gentiles. We also need to realize that we believe about theological ideas— grace, justification, salvation, and covenant—affect how we live and treat others. (Scripture: Romans 3:21-26)

Scripture: Exodus 15-17

Paul spoke of sin and death reigning like a king (like Pharaoh) and enslaving all of humanity. Through Jesus, people are liberated from the reign of sin and death. This liberation is a gift, it is by God’s grace. It isn’t Torah observance that liberates people, it is God’s grace. In Christ, we live under the reign of grace. However, many in the “weak” group seemed to push back on this idea, suspecting it meant a sinful and lawless disregard for righteous living. However, Paul argued that living under grace means we are free to live according to God’s will. Are we willing to allow ourselves, and especially others, to live under the reign of grace? Or do we try to enslave one another with new laws, because we do not trust the sanctifying work of the Spirit? (Scripture: Romans 5:18-21)

Scripture: John 4

The entire letter of Romans revolves around the issue of the Law. However, the question isn’t as simple as, “Should Christians observe the Law of Moses?” If a Christian wanted to observe the Law, they were more than welcome to do so. The question was more like, “How can those who observe the Law and those who don’t observe the Law live together as one unified family?” The Torah-observant Jews needed to learn that the Law was good, but the Law didn’t make someone a child of God. The only way to become a child of God is to receive the Spirit of God. Whoever has the Spirit of God—regardless of their ethnicity, culture, or relationship with the Law—is a child of God. We must also recognize the Spirit in other believers, even if we don’t share their culture or some of their conclusions. (Scripture: Romans 8:1-11)

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33

The Torah-observing group, the “weak” Christians in Rome, put a lot of stock in the idea that they were God’s chosen people. They likely perceived things like circumcision, dietary restrictions, and observance of holy days as indicators that a person was part of the chosen people. However, Paul wrote that not all Torah-observing Jews were actually children of Abraham. The true children of Abraham are those who receive God’s gracious gift of covenant membership the way Abraham received it, as a promise received by faith. This seemed incredibly unfair to those who could not believe God would give covenant membership to Gentiles over their unbelieving Jewish relatives. It’s easy to scoff at this ethnocentrism, but do we often show preference to those who share our culture, over those who share our faith? (Scripture: Romans 11:1-5)