Posts from 2025

In the season of Advent, we wait. God is on his way and we anticipate with joy and longing. The news that God plans to soon show up in our day, in our schedule, in our moments of hurt and confusion, ought to stir something up within us. Excitement, hope, and perhaps some uneasiness about the things in our lives we’d like to rectify as we prepare for his sudden presence in our midst. “You know what time it is,”…

Typically, the letters of Paul in the New Testament are addressed to churches that he was directly involved in planting. He likes to draw from his personal history with the specific churches in order to then offer his validation of and challenges for them. But Rome is different. Paul didn’t plant the church there. He’s never even been there. Whatever information he has about them is secondhand. His ministry has taken him to many other places, places where “Christ has…

As Paul comes to the final points of Romans, he takes one last opportunity to shower the church with praise. “My brothers and sisters, you are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.” (Romans 15:14) He surveys the foundational DNA of his ministry as “obedience from the gentiles by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit.” (15:18-19) That is Paul’s ministry to the gentiles.…

Be subject to the governing authorities? Those authorities have been instituted by God? They are God’s agents to execute wrath on the wrongdoer? We might dismiss these ideas outright if not for the fact that they come to us from scripture. Since these are Paul’s words in Romans 13, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that perhaps he knows what he’s talking about. But we also wouldn’t be wrong to admit our discomfort with this teaching. We wouldn’t…

As we enter Romans 12 and venture forth, we see how all the rich theology of the previous eleven chapters becomes lived theology, how the truth about the death and resurrection of Jesus takes root in us and creates actual patterns of living. First of all, these patterns of living are not superficial attachments like ornaments on a Christmas tree. No, a much deeper change has occurred. “By God’s mercy, present your bodies as a living sacrifice; this is your…

A mystery! Not like a murder mystery, where a detective can find just enough evidence to answer all our questions. No, what Paul means by mystery here in Romans 9-11 is a kind of thing that we will not grasp even once we have found answers. It envelopes us and draws us into the unsearchable depths of God. We do not approach with tools or equations, but with wonder and adoration. The heart of Israel has been hardened (11:25). This…

I magnify my ministry to the gentiles, in order to make my own people jealous, and thus save some of them. – Romans 11:13-14 So, it is in fact Paul’s great love for his own people Israel that possesses him to betray them. This is the faithful betrayal. The only way Paul can honor his beloved kindred is to turn on them, to champion the gospel that bypasses Israel and reaches the whole world. For Paul to proclaim the gospel…

If God’s love and promises are in fact so unswerving, then why does it appear that Israel, the longtime recipient of God’s promises, is on the outside looking in? This is the question Paul bitterly wrestles with in Romans 9-11. As the verses go by, the layers of his answer slowly fold back. First, God’s unpredictable mercy has a way bringing new people to the table, while those who assumed their automatic place at the table may not have a…

Allow me to state the obvious (but not as obvious as it seems): the Gospel of John is a story about Jesus. Why is that something that needs clear stating? Because sometimes we need reminding that Jesus is not just a teacher with some good ideas and advice. Jesus is not an instrument by which we achieve happiness and success (which would reduce him to a pawn in our narrative and needs). He is nothing less than the focal point…

Zeal. Knowledge-less zeal. That is, unfortunately, the defining trait of the longtime people of God (Romans 10:1-2). That’s what religion so often makes out of us. A lot of zeal. A lot of passion and energy. But not nearly enough of simply knowing the presence of God. Not enough of being confronted by God. Not enough loving God for God’s own sake. This problem keeps popping up throughout Romans – religion creates as many problems as it solves. In Paul’s…

When Jesus is asked the question, “Who is my neighbor?” he responds with his famous parable of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The question is not asked in good faith. We’re told that the questioner, an expert in Jewish law, wants to test Jesus and to himself be declared right and justified in the process. So “who is my neighbor?” really means “who is not my neighbor?” The questioner wants to know whom he is allowed to exclude. He wants to draw…

“My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief.” (Romans 9:2) How can such a gloomy statement so immediately follow the joyful outbursts of Romans 8? In short, the good news of Romans 5-8 has inadvertently created a problem for Paul. If God’s definitive act of rescue through the death and resurrection of Jesus is so completely true and sufficient and life-giving, then what is Paul to make of all his Jewish brothers and sisters who have not come…