Daily Bread 2010 - Romans 1
Daily Bread 2010 – Romans 1
God's Wrath Against Mankind
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Today we start the book of Romans, Paul’s first epistle, also called letter. Paul is longing to see the Romans again, but he writes this letter to instruct the church made up of mainly new Christians. The book of Romans has been called the “Swiss Alps” of Paul’s theological instruction. His letter is a systematic approach to the theology of “By grace alone, by Faith alone, based on the Word alone. Martin Luther relied heavily on this book in all of his writings as well, and it was the rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
In this first chapter, Paul develops the progression of how we are saved by grace. Of course when we say we are saved, the natural question is, “Saved from what?” This first chapter answers this question. Paul shows that what can be known about God is clear from his very Creation, so that all are without excuse. What can be known about God is revealed in the order of nature and Creation and His inherent power.
Paul reveals that the chief mistake man has made, and the root of sinful nature, is that we worshipped what was “created” instead of the “Creator”. Instead of honoring God as the Creator and worshipping Him, people had worshipped idols, made in the form of human beings and animals. Since man willfully chose this over God, He gave them over to their sinful lusts, and this included men and women exchanging natural sexual relations for unnatural (ie. heterosexual for homosexual).
It is important to note that this is not the only sin mentioned, as when you read the next paragraph all the other catalogue of sins is listed. But sexual immorality is listed first because it shows that we were created to have sexual relations within certain boundaries. But due to our lust, we go beyond those boundaries and receive the penalties for our error.
We see this in our society today as we see the enormous consequences due to sexual immorality including but not limited to: divorce due to adultery, unwanted pregnancies, prostitution, pornography, homosexuality etc... God gave us the gift of sexuality to enjoy within the context of marriage (becoming one in God’s eyes), and also for the gift of procreation, having a family.
Although chapter 1 is a little depressing, we need to acknowledge our sinful condition before we can receive God’s grace which we will hear about in the upcoming chapters.
God thank you for Your gift of Creation. As we see the world around us, we know there is a power greater than us who has given us everything we enjoy including the gift of relationship and marriage and family. Help us today to worship you as our Creator for you are worthy of our worship. In Jesus’ name, Amen
God's Wrath Against Mankind
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Today we start the book of Romans, Paul’s first epistle, also called letter. Paul is longing to see the Romans again, but he writes this letter to instruct the church made up of mainly new Christians. The book of Romans has been called the “Swiss Alps” of Paul’s theological instruction. His letter is a systematic approach to the theology of “By grace alone, by Faith alone, based on the Word alone. Martin Luther relied heavily on this book in all of his writings as well, and it was the rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
In this first chapter, Paul develops the progression of how we are saved by grace. Of course when we say we are saved, the natural question is, “Saved from what?” This first chapter answers this question. Paul shows that what can be known about God is clear from his very Creation, so that all are without excuse. What can be known about God is revealed in the order of nature and Creation and His inherent power.
Paul reveals that the chief mistake man has made, and the root of sinful nature, is that we worshipped what was “created” instead of the “Creator”. Instead of honoring God as the Creator and worshipping Him, people had worshipped idols, made in the form of human beings and animals. Since man willfully chose this over God, He gave them over to their sinful lusts, and this included men and women exchanging natural sexual relations for unnatural (ie. heterosexual for homosexual).
It is important to note that this is not the only sin mentioned, as when you read the next paragraph all the other catalogue of sins is listed. But sexual immorality is listed first because it shows that we were created to have sexual relations within certain boundaries. But due to our lust, we go beyond those boundaries and receive the penalties for our error.
We see this in our society today as we see the enormous consequences due to sexual immorality including but not limited to: divorce due to adultery, unwanted pregnancies, prostitution, pornography, homosexuality etc... God gave us the gift of sexuality to enjoy within the context of marriage (becoming one in God’s eyes), and also for the gift of procreation, having a family.
Although chapter 1 is a little depressing, we need to acknowledge our sinful condition before we can receive God’s grace which we will hear about in the upcoming chapters.
God thank you for Your gift of Creation. As we see the world around us, we know there is a power greater than us who has given us everything we enjoy including the gift of relationship and marriage and family. Help us today to worship you as our Creator for you are worthy of our worship. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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