God makes people right with himself
through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in
Christ, because all people are the same: Everyone has sinned and fallen short
of God’s glorious standard, and all need to be made right with God by his
grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus
Christ. (Romans 3:22-24, New Century Version)
So, to recap. The first four books of the New Testament are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Book of Acts is the fifth book, and I talked about that a little last week. This brings us to the next series of books, which are twenty-one letters, also called epistles, written by several different followers of Jesus to members of the new churches. The first of these letters is The Book of Romans, one of the most read books of the Bible.
Why is that? Because it gives the clearest, yet most complete study of the tenets of the Christian faith.
The Book of Romans was written by the apostle Paul in approximately 57-58 AD, and was meant to give direction, encouragement, and guidance to a church of new believers in Rome. At the time Paul wrote to the Roman church, believers there were living in relative peace and weren’t yet being persecuted for their faith. But as with any church, this one still needed to hear the what the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus really meant for them.
And I can’t tell you that as well as Paul, so here are a few passages from that epistle.
For I am not ashamed of this Good News
about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the
Jew first and also the Gentile. (Romans 1:16, New Living Translation)
We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. They are the people he called, because that was his plan. (Romans 8:28, New Century Version)
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21, New International Version)
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12, New International Version)
I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children. For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:18-21, Good News Translation)
No comments:
Post a Comment