Romans 9 - Monday 6th May

Today’s chapter is Romans 9

Tom writes:

We walked away from chapter 8 spellbound by its goodness. Or we should have done; a repeated strategy of “the powers” is to cause distrust of Paul’s message. All across the Mediterranean Paul won people to the staggering truths of chapters 1-8 but then saw his churches ravaged by allegations against him. These allegations majored on the idea that Paul had abandoned the Old Testament. So - the logic went - His words could not be the very words of God. We hear those exact allegations today. People say Paul is just one voice among many, one of many preachers pushing his own views. With this allegation in our minds we struggle to receive Romans as the Unchanging and True Words of God. That then leads to the growth of an opt-in / opt-out approach. And before long whole churches are weakened through division or complacency. Paul speaks into this directly here with an emotional reflection on the hope of the Old Testament. Paul knew he was one voice among many; everywhere he went people preached alternative truths. Paul stresses how much he has agonised over that very fact.

Then he fights to show his message is the message of God. Paul shows how his every word is directly in line with the promises of the Old Testament. Paul’s gospel is exactly what the Unchanging God always said he would do even if He did it in a way that was slightly unexpected. Think about the gravity of this truth. Let it obliterate any opt-in / opt-out approach in your heart. We are not believers in a new doctrine that happened to win the Roman empire; these aren’t just Paul’s words. This scripture, this gospel is the word that God himself always intended to say and did say. There is no other gospel, no other message, no other path. This letter of Romans is God’s Letter to you. Paul is simply a sinful man ambushed by the redeemer God to repeat what God has told him to say. God himself authored Romans so that his Unchanging Truth could be available to you. You can trust it. Lean on it. Build your life on it. Bet your eternity on it. Never let any other voice diminish your confidence that it is God’s voice speaking to you through his book.

Question for reflection

What difference would it make to our engagement with the bible if we truly believed it was God writing to us?

More resources are for you at www.anewtestamentjourney.net

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