Posts from September 2025

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…

Romans 5-8 is a nonstop thrill ride, accelerating us from one piece of explosive good news to the next. “Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (5:5) “Just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” (5:18) “We were buried with him by baptism into death, so…

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18) Here is yet another piece of the astonishing gospel of Romans 8. Suffering is a given in the New Testament. Suffering is not a glitch; it’s the norm. Jesus suffered, so why wouldn’t we suffer along with him? But God is up to something, getting ready to take all our pain and tears and failures and…