Another Bible Commentary: Romans

Paul wrote to the Romans on his third missionary journey. As it is a church he had yet to speak to in person, this letter provides a wealth of Paul’s thoughts. That visit he wanted to take that was delayed (Romans 15:22) led to this letter for our edification (Romans 8:28). He later got to preach in Rome for two years (Acts 28:31). Before Paul wrote to the Romans, Emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from the city of Rome for disputing over “Chrestus”; they returned after his murder. Tension between the returning Jewish Christians and the Gentile believers is addressed in this letter. I briefly mentioned the client/patron relationship as a framework to understand Barnabas’ ascent in the early Church in Acts 4. In the ancient world, gifts bound people together. A patron’s charis/favor/gift/grace was to be accepted graciously. There was an understanding of reciprocity and loyalty. Returning a favor was done from an ongoing sense of gratitude instead of clearing a ledger by paying what was owed. Clients of patrons became like lesser family members and served as needed. Picking a client/patron relationship by giving a gift was similar to selecting a suitor for your daughter. God uniquely gave a priceless gift to the unworthy. Compared to Him, we’re all unworthy, but He’s gracious. Even though we’re metaphorically ants, we’re the available recipients of His generosity. Therefore, as clients of our Patron, God, we established a community/family of faith across races/statuses/etc. We are recipients of grace together. God needs nothing from us, and a patron wouldn’t ruin their image by taking back a gift. The things we (allegedly – Philippians 2:13) do for Him are inspired by His love and are done in perpetual gratitude; you can’t pay Him back because we can’t give Him anything worth His Son.

There’s a well-known approach to evangelism called The Romans Road: Everyone’s bad (Romans 3:23), but Christ died for the bad (Romans 5:8). Salvation is a free gift (Romans 6:23) by grace (Romans 11:6) through faith (Romans 4:4-5) available to all who call on Jesus (Romans 10:13).

1:1 Paul calls himself a slave of Christ to signify a deeper commitment than a hireling who would cut and run when things got tough. We’re God’s friends (John 15:15) and His children (John 1:12), and none of that conflicts.

1:4 Jesus was always God (John 1), but the Resurrection showed everyone His status. See Philippians 2:6-11.

1:5 “the obedience that is faith” is a way to translate that. See John 6:28-29 and John 16:9.

1:6 as are you. Everyone is called (John 12:32).

1:7 You are loved by God. That’s right up front in the letter. Grace is God’s favor toward us without any merit on our part. Most people’s concept of grace is merely mercy, or not giving us what we deserve. God gives us far, far better than we deserve. The Hebrew word for peace shalom connotes not only the absence of strife but well-being, health, safety, prosperity, and all-around wholeness. Not that prosperity is the focus of the Gospel, but when Hebrew authors (including Paul) say “Peace be with you” that includes “I hope y’all’s money is right.” Notice that Paul prays for grace and peace for all in attendance (so that they might be saved), and that Paul prays for it from both Father and Son here.

1:11-12 Notice that the empowering spiritual gift here is mutual encouragement.

1:16 “everyone who believes” It really is that simple. It’s personally trusting in/firmly relying on Jesus Christ instead of our own works for salvation.

1:17 “a righteousness that is by faith from first to last” You don’t graduate from this. Works are not step two, but a natural consequence. See Habakkuk 2:4.

Verses 18 through 30 could have the heading: What the Jews Thought about the Gentiles. If you start reading this next bit in the Bible, you have to keep going from here through Chapter 3 to avoid out-of-context interpretations.

1:20 like Psalm 19:1 and Psalm 97:6.

1:21 Praise Him and thank Him in every circumstance. Not “for” every circumstance, but for what He’s done for you, our glorious future, etc.

1:22-23 See Psalm 14:1, 2 Kings 17:15, and Isaiah 44:9-20.

1:24 Their hearts hardened like in Psalm 81:11-12. See Isaiah 64:7. See the noncanonical Wisdom of Solomon 14:12 for bonus points, if you like.

1:26-27 Paul began to expound upon the behaviors of Sodom, Canaan, etc. The “due penalty” he mentioned was getting buggered as the eventual result of the idolatry from verse 23. In Adam, we’re all born sinners. It takes no sins committed to be a sinner. Some people are born with a tendency toward alcoholism, some people are born with a tendency to become murderously angry in traffic, so everyone can say they were “born this way” about something.

First of all, see John 6:37 and 1 John 5:1-3. Believers are saved, and Christians love other believers in Christ as fellow children of God. Church discipline and leadership are other matters, but we are not the world police (1 Corinthians 5:12). Don’t give Christians any static on account of this particular sin that you wouldn’t give to any other believing sinner e.g. a blackout drunk, and don’t give unbelievers anything except Christ crucified. Leviticus 18 covers the definitions of sexual immorality applicable even outside the Law of Moses (as the Canaanites were removed in part for these practices), and it’s only at the level of the prohibited acts. Whether someone can love someone, claim their friend-closer-than-a-brother on their insurance, adopt an unwanted baby, etc., aren’t in there, so don’t be unloving.

The “weightiest” law being love did not remove concern for sexual immorality from Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 or Jesus in John 8; neither asked whether the incestuous man or the adulteress really loved their current partner before telling them to go and sin no more.

Sexual relations involve a natural penis. “Knowing” a spouse seems to always precede the birth of a child in Scripture; His primary concern throughout Leviticus 18 is the act that propagates His image and parallel behaviors. Kissing and oral pleasure between males and females are affirmed in the Song of Songs/Solomon even in a premarital context (See the Song of Songs/Solomon notes for 2:3-6, 4:6, 7:2, and 8:2-3 while realizing they’re still talking about the dowry in 8:12). Those are sex-adjacent warmup activities, but they are not sex. 1 Kings 1:1-4 makes it clear that anything short of penile penetration is not in focus. Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13 said not to lie with a man as with a woman. Leviticus 18:23 specified that men are not to have sex with animals and women are not to have sex with animals. Lesbians are not mentioned in Leviticus 18:22. There’s no way the righteously polygynist patriarchs kept up the frequency of relations with their first wives as they added more, and things went on in harems. The remaining possible way to “lay” with a man as one could with a woman is anally. 1 Timothy 1:10 is derivative of Leviticus 20:13, and that verse also specifies male-male. The sin of Adam is not called the sin of Eve because Adam was in charge (Genesis 3:16), and “ruling over” another who is equally designed to plant seed and sweat from effort so to speak blurs a designation like that between man and animal (Leviticus 18:22-23). (As for lesbianism and Genesis 3:16’s assertion that the desires of women will be for their husbands, the prevalence of what is termed “lesbian bed death” and often rape-like impregnation dreams featuring decidedly unfeminine men invites further discussion.) Efforts to expand all of Leviticus 18’s instructions to everyone equally ignore the different roles God gave men and women and the precision of His instructions (even prohibiting boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk in three different verses). Romans 1:26 says that women abandoned natural relations for unnatural relations. Romans 1:27 says that in the same way (which is to say by the same mechanism) men lusted for each other; Romans 1:26 lacks the “each other” specifier. See Deuteronomy 23:13-14; it sure looks like human feces is a manifestation of death that was not part of God’s initial good creation. In a culture that didn’t use baby wipes to copulate, horror at buggery is equivalent to most people’s dismay at scat play. Most people still find the possibility of their own buggery to be unnatural or at least uncomfortable; enthusiasts use special devices to get ready for it, etc. Think of the ancient world; the vagina can expand and self-lubricate in ways that the anus cannot. In that historical and cultural context, buggery would have usually involved things like pagan rituals, pederasty, displays of dominance akin to prison rape, etc. The threat of buggery is a large part of why most men answer as to why imprisonment is a deterrent to crime. See these prohibitions in light of Judges 19:22. Leviticus 18:22 prohibits penetrating a male in the way that the original hearers “would with a woman”; since males lack vaginas, the assumption that straight couples were engaged in what is termed anal sex (for example, to avoid pregnancy in the days before reliable birth control methods and after constantly making sons to farm for you stopped being economically viable) is baked in. Romans 1:26 says that is unnatural, but the Law of Moses includes some of the idiosyncrasies of fallen humanity, as Jesus alluded to in his discussion of Deuteronomy 24 divorces against the ideal one-flesh pairing of Genesis 2:24 from before the Fall. Paul mentioned the unnatural-but-not-illegal male-female scenario in verse 26 to arrive at the verse 27 behavior among males that is prohibited to all humanity in the Leviticus lists (as the Canaanites were punished for it apart from the Law).

1:28 like Psalm 81:12. Paul pivoted from the sins of the body that resulted from idolatry to the sins of the mind. He employed a literary device well-known to his audience favored by Stoic philosophers, the “vice list”. Using a concordance is a good start. Since the meanings of words drift with time, drilling down with a Greek lexicon that directs you to how the words were used in the literature of the period is very helpful.

1:29 The “greed” here (pleonexia) and envy/“evil eye” (Deuteronomy 15:9) involve wanting more and more without boundaries, like coveting what another person has and wanting them not to have it; there is a desire to disobey God’s prohibitions of theft, false weights, etc., baked into those concepts. In common usage, the lines get blurred with regard to miserliness, professional ambition, etc. God has been known to give financial blessings to people that honor Him like Abraham, David, etc. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, which is to say loving money more than desiring to obey God about whether to steal or not. Notice that “gossips” are listed separately from “slanderers” in the next verse, as speaking ill of someone with an unloving intent to harm them is wrong even if it’s the truth. The rabbis consider damaging a reputation a form of theft. Remember Miriam in Numbers 12.

1:30 The old meaning of “insolent” ranges from unruly and disrespectful like the suitors in Homer’s Odyssey to violent criminals. From an Old Testament perspective, the arrogant place themselves on God’s throne. The “boastful” are pretentious charlatans like the Sophists (well-trained speakers that could argue whichever side of an issue profited them; some of them became “super-apostles” in opposition to Paul as seen in 2 Corinthians).

1:31 Instead of the unloving behaviors listed in the last few verses, let’s try being humble, encouraging, and respectful in the spirit of Hebrews 10:24-25.

1:32 Remembering that parents were the first form of earthly government, that stealing a reputation is still theft, and that false oaths involved misuse of God’s Name, the last few verses are all still descriptions of Believe (Romans 11:20), Love (Romans 13:10), and avoid Noahide infractions that even pagan kings in Genesis knew deserved death.

2:1-4 Speck, meet beam (Matthew 7:1-5). The Jews in the audience were no better off than the Gentiles (verse 9). Paul mentioned a Gentile audience in Romans 1:6, but Romans 2:17 makes it clear he was addressing Jews, too. Christians aren’t judged (John 5:24), this is just building an argument that the Law judges everyone as bad. See Psalm 130:3-4.

2:5 See Jeremiah 17:10. Thankfully, God looks to the new heart He installed at salvation (Ezekiel 36:26).

2:6 See Psalm 62:12 and Proverbs 24:12. Regarding what you have done, the correct answer is “trusted Jesus”.

2:7 Only Jesus did well enough to merit this. See Romans 3:9, Romans 11:32, and Romans 5:9.

2:8 Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6). Accept the Truth.

2:11 “favoritism” Regarding Jew vs Gentile.

2:12 Here, “apart from the Law” means Gentiles, and “under the Law” means Jews. Adam was told he was choosing death, and Gentiles still “in Adam” need no Law to claim that birthright. Anyone under the Law instead of under the grace of Jesus Christ will have 613 rules applied against them at the end.

2:13 Again, that was only Jesus.

2:14-15 Even unregenerate Gentile high schoolers have notions of morality that line up with the Noahide Laws, etc. There is some quality even in the broken version of God’s Image. When you received the new heart at salvation, you got His new rules written on it (Jeremiah 31:33), too.

2:16 Like Ecclesiastes 12:14.

2:22 “rob temples” See Deuteronomy 7:25. The Zealots sometimes got creative for the cause.

2:24 See Ezekiel 36:20.

2:25 The Law of Moses is an all-or-nothing proposition (James 2:10). See Jeremiah 9:25-26.

2:26-27 “the law’s requirements” For the uncircumcised, that would be the requirements of the Noahide Laws. See Matthew 21:28-32.

2:28 See Deuteronomy 10:16.

2:29 Stephen’s speech (Acts 7) clearly affected Paul.

3:1-2 Paul will go into greater detail in Romans 9 through Romans 11. Maintaining a family identity, preserving history, and studying the Torah are fine as long as Jesus is the source of your righteousness. See Galatians 5:2-5.

3:4 in Psalm 51:4. God already judged Christians’ sins at the Cross; keep going.

3:5 “our” meaning the Jews (verse 9).

3:6 Jesus had to die because God is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful.

3:7-8 Paul comes back to this accusation in Romans 6. If grace doesn’t seem to dangerously offer the possibility of sinning to your heart’s content, grace hasn’t been preached. (The other element is that since God changed you, you won’t actually be satisfied by sinning, so God isn’t worried about you doing what you really want to do. I’m getting ahead of myself.)

3:9 Paul’s conclusion from everything in Romans up until now is that everyone needs Jesus.

3:10-18 See Ecclesiastes 7:20 and Isaiah 64:6-7. Paul used samples from Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, Psalm 5:9, Psalm 140:3, Psalm 10:7 (Septuagint), Isaiah 59:7-8, and Psalm 36:1 to construct this song.

3:19-20 The point of the Law of Moses is that we all need Jesus. See Isaiah 42:21 and Psalm 143, especially verse 2. The Dead Sea Scrolls include a letter from Essenes to Pharisees about how their “works of the Law” were incomplete because of dogs running wild spreading ritual uncleanliness in Jerusalem after eating dead things, water impurity, etc. Based on that, some say that “works of the Law” are just what Aquinas (mistakenly) called the Ceremonial Law (distilled from the all-or-nothing Law of Moses) which was basically what it meant to be Jewish instead of a Gentile under the Second Temple system including things like circumcision, etc., and Galatians 3:10 and James 2:10 disprove that assertion. Even if “works of the Law” meant just those things, Paul’s been harping on morality rather than ritual throughout the building of this argument.

3:21 “The LORD is our righteousness” per Jeremiah 33:16. See also Isaiah 11:10 and Isaiah 26:3-4.

3:22 Read this verse until it sinks in.

3:23 like Psalm 14:2-3, Ecclesiastes 7:20, and 1 Kings 8:46.

3:24 Read this verse until it sinks in. Grace is free or it’s not grace.

3:25-26 See Isaiah 53:10. The Cross worked. The Cross even worked throughout history. All those times sinners got away with things in the Old Testament were not God disregarding the Law, and neither is our lack of punishment under the New Covenant. God doesn’t accept apologies, He accepts blood (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). Jesus entirely satisfies God’s righteous requirement (1 John 2:1-2).

3:27 People had been warned He was coming (Deuteronomy 18:15).

3:28 Paul explains this in Chapter 4.

3:29-30 See Romans 4:11-12.

3:31 See Acts 13:38-39. Jesus came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17), and He did (Romans 10:4). He didn’t just declare everything a free-for-all and go back to Heaven; instead, He died for our sins. We that choose grace uphold the Law of Moses by recognizing its true impossible spirit as taught by Jesus. We leave it on a pedestal, and we admit that only Jesus kept it and that only Jesus could have kept it. He is God, and I am not. The Law which we admit would kill us remains, but we have died to it through Christ’s death for us, as Paul explains a little later (Romans 7:4, Romans 10:4).

4:1-8 prove that the commentators I keep seeing nowadays influenced by the “New Perspective on Paul” are mistaken about “works of the Law” being Judaism membership cards like circumcision and kosher food. They’re also mistaken about human effort and good works as necessary contributions to salvation; the criminal Jesus spoke to in Luke 23:43 had nothing but faith going for him. If what they were saying were true, the “ungodly” sinners in these verses would be out of luck, but instead they receive righteousness as a gift through faith. The “works” in verse 6 are “sins” in verses 7 and 8.

4:2 Genesis 26:5 (Abe did what was required of him) is the result of Genesis 15:6 (what God actually required was faith). God didn’t hesitate to deal with bad behavior from Moses, David, etc., in the Old Testament, so Genesis 26:5 is still a strong endorsement of his actions; nevertheless, Abe still couldn’t boast of his works before God because of Romans 3:23.

4:3 See Genesis 15:6.

4:4-5 These verses started the Protestant Reformation. Grace is free, or it’s not grace. See Hebrews 4:10. We have been compared to clumsy servants who break stuff when we try to do things; rest in Christ.

4:6 Again, the “works” in verse 6 are “sins” in verses 7 and 8.

4:7-8 in Psalm 32:1-2. See also Psalm 130:3-4 and Hebrews 8:12. Since God isn’t keeping track of your sins anymore, don’t join the devil in accusing yourself or other Christians unless you’re trying to help them get free, following the Matthew 18 principle of keeping the circle small, calling out an elder in the church, etc.

4:10 Abe was righteous in Genesis 15 for faith, and he wasn’t circumcised until two chapters later.

4:11 Circumcision was a sign, but now that the promises of Genesis 12:3 have come true and Christ’s righteousness is available for believers of any background, there was no more need for separation, and only the faith circumcision represented matters. See Deuteronomy 30:6.

4:12 If you’re already thinking of Genesis 17:5, Paul’s about to get there too.

4:13 You and I are heirs of the universe as Abraham’s offspring (verse 16). See Galatians 4:7.

4:14 God meant His promises to Abraham. Jesus meant the rock-solid promises of John 6, etc. See Psalm 130:8; God promised to set His people free from sin.

4:15 We’re lousy law-keepers (James 3:2), so the only way to avoid breaking the Law is to have no Law to break. You are not under the Law (Romans 6:14, Galatians 3:24-25), you are dead to the Law (Romans 7:4), and Christ is the end of the Law for believers (Romans 10:4). The Old Covenant is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Whoa, don’t run out there for orgies and murder; Paul will explain soon that because of our salvation, we weren’t made for lives like that.

4:16-17 See Genesis 17:5 and Romans 10:9. Abe is your ancestor if you are a believer, because believers are in Christ (John 17:20-23). Abe having faith that God was capable of keeping His promise by reviving their old reproductive systems and that God was capable of raising the dead in Genesis 22 is like believing Christ physically rose from the dead, and that we will, too.

4:18 in Genesis 15:5, before circumcision.

4:19 This was early faith in God’s power to resurrect.

4:20 in contrast to the people in Romans 1:21.

4:24 There are verses supporting both imparted (God slurped out the badness and put in the goodness with our new hearts) and imputed (God treats you as okay) righteousness.

4:25 just like Isaiah 52:13 through Isaiah 53:12 said He would. Jesus Christ is way better at being the Savior than all of us are at being sinners combined.

5:1 We have been justified already. We already have peace with God. Jesus did it (Matthew 5:9).

5:2 We stand in grace. We’re not trying out for it as if we might not get it.

5:3-4 You don’t have to be thankful for adverse circumstances, but know who you are while in them and be thankful for what He has done (and is still doing for you).

5:5 When you believed, you got the Holy Spirit. God’s love has been poured into your heart. You can rely on Him instead of your own ability to crank out love (Romans 9:33, Romans 10:11).

5:6 “right time” as foretold by the prophets.

5:7 God uniquely gives priceless gifts to the unworthy.

5:8 To be a sinner, be born in sin (verse 19), or as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15 “in Adam”. It takes zero sins to be committed for someone to be a sinner. To be a saint, be born again; be as 1 Corinthians 15 says and John 17:20-23 promises: “in Christ”. It takes zero righteous acts to be a saint. Faith is knowing, not feeling; know you’re a saint and act like it. Why? Because you are saved and holy. Why? Because Jesus did a great job, and God is faithful to His promises.

5:9 Believer, you were already justified by His blood. Mission accomplished. When human history ends, you will definitely be safe (1 John 4:17). You are saved because He lives (Hebrews 7:25), as seen in the next verse.

5:10-11 Read these verses until it sticks. We have received reconciliation already. We’re not on probation for it. You, like all of us, were His enemy, and He still sent the Son to die for you. The Son was willing to die for you; He came back from the dead and lives forever. Not only did His sacrifice work, He is the best intercessor ever. He can be trusted to save you completely (Hebrews 7:25). Even more than this, we are alive and saved because He lives because we have His life (Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:4), which no other religion can offer. The Cross justifies, but we’d be justified corpses without Him living through us. Remember John 3:3.

5:12 See 1 Corinthians 15:22.

5:15-17 Adam, by sinning once, killed us all. Now, not that we want to, we sin all the time (James 3:2), and we’ll still be just fine. In Christ, you are already sitting on a throne in Heaven (Ephesians 2:6); go “reign in life”.

5:18 “all people” meaning all kinds of people, Jew and Gentile alike. Belief in Christ is still necessary.

5:19 “will be made righteous” as they come to faith in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

5:20-21 “The Law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.” See, a life with Law in it is a life with more sin in it. Grace is victory over sin (Titus 2:11-12). People who say there is such a thing as too much grace are saying that you can have too much victory over sin. People who say we need to “balance” Law and Grace are in effect saying we need to balance success and failure. This gets even better: “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” You cannot “out-sin” the growing grace of God. (You don’t actually want to try to do that, either; Paul will get there soon.) People criticize the gospel as “hyper-grace”, and Romans 5:20 is one of the verses in the New Testament that actually uses the Greek prefix for “hyper” to describe God’s grace. It says that God’s grace “abounds exceedingly”, “overflows”, and is “super-abundant” (way more than enough). God’s grace reminds me of the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand.

6:1 If the Gospel doesn’t raise the question of whether you could just go and do all the sins, the Gospel hasn’t been preached. Some people have tried this historically (1 Timothy 1:19); it’s what Paul was accused of in Romans 3:8. Don’t do it though; keep reading.

6:2 Notice that Paul’s reason for not sinning isn’t that God will be mad or the hypothetical loss of salvation. God promised to forget your sins (Hebrews 8:12), and He is trustworthy. Salvation isn’t a set of keys to misplace, but a Person who will never leave you (Hebrews 13:5). Paul said to stop sinning because you just aren’t a “sinner” anymore. It just doesn’t fit, and it won’t fulfill you. A saint who sins sometimes is different from a born sinner who can descend further and further into corruption without the slightest bit of internal conflict. It is possible in this world to be saved and miserable from poor choices (Galatians 5:17).

6:3 See John 17:20-23, Galatians 2:20, and Colossians 1:13-14.

6:4 Most people have heard that Jesus died for our sins. Fewer people know that Christians also already died along with Christ and were raised from the dead along with Christ to live a new life. Sin is like a parasite that we have to contend with as long as we’re in these bodies (Paul explains more soon), but we are on a new path. See Colossians 3.

6:5-7 Total forgiveness plus Luke 7:47 equals us loving Jesus a lot.

6:8-10 See Hebrews 7:25, Hebrews 9:11-28, and Hebrews 10:10,14. He’s not up there dying over and over again, and you’re not being forgiven piecemeal, either. You are once-for-all forgiven then, now, and forever. You have His indestructible life.

6:11 God isn’t telling you to lie to yourself. You really are dead to Sin and alive to God. See 2 Corinthians 5:17. Sinners can’t help but sin. You, as a saint, still hear Sin barking like a dog behind a fence, but you have gained the ability to choose to ignore its instructions. Again, a cut flower in a glass of water can bloom, but it is still dead. Your sinful nature was cut away (Colossians 2:11-12) ; it’s just a matter of time.

6:12-13 “its” Notice the word “its” especially. The sinful desires belong to Sin. Sin has been a named character in the Bible since Genesis 4:7. Not all of your thoughts come from you. You are not the sum of your thoughts. Sin is like a parasite that feeds you ideas and then accuses you of having them. You don’t have to do what Sin wants.

6:14 This is a promise, not a threat, because you are not under the Law. You are under God’s grace. Here’s a thought experiment: Based on what Paul is saying, how enslaved to sin are unbelievers, whether they think they are or not? How much are you the property of righteousness, whether you feel like you are or not? If your home has an immaculate guest room and a dirty trash closet, where are you more likely to put something nasty? If you think you’re a dirty worm that nonetheless has to try to act holy, you won’t succeed if the next opportunity to sin looks like just one more on the pile. If you know you are actually a saint because of what Jesus did, you are in a position to resist Sin telling you to put the Roadkill of Impurity in the Guest Room of Your Conscience.

6:15 How do you sin without laws to break (Romans 4:15)? In an environment in which you are free to do anything you want, think of sinning as obeying the power called Sin. Both you, at a heart level, and the Holy Spirit agree that you’re just not made for obeying Sin anymore.

6:16 Paul used the strongest language of ownership and lack of agency/consent by comparing a relationship with sin or with righteousness to slavery. No one has had proper “free will” since the Garden of Eden. In saying that sin leads to death, Paul was not questioning the safety of your eternal life, because if it were vulnerable, it would not be eternal life. This is like verse 2 again. Why live like the hellbound in doing things that killed Jesus? That’s not you anymore.

6:17 “you have come to obey from your heart” See, as promised (Ezekiel 36:26-27) the stony, disobedient heart has already been replaced with a pliant, obedient heart.

6:18 This master/slave dynamic illustrates Psalm 130:8: God promised to set His people free from sin.

6:19 “ever-increasing wickedness” Sinners have a trend toward more sin (Romans 8:7). Some of them get quite creative and inventive. Believers have a new trend toward righteousness. We’re not perfectly behaved yet, but we’re not practicing sin to get better at it.

6:20 Sinners (unbelievers dead to God and alive to Sin) can’t listen to the Holy Spirit regarding behavior, and believers don’t have to listen to Sin.

6:21 Again, you love Jesus, so why do things that contributed to His death?

6:22 Holiness and eternal life are the fruit of becoming “slaves” of God. He owns you, and He makes you want to do right while making you do right (Philippians 2:13). It still seems like He’s doing all the work because He is.

6:23 See Proverbs 10:16. Notice that for the believer, since your nature has changed, sinning is hard work like a job with a wage. Jesus’ eternal life and righteousness are gifts, and gifts are free. Jesus already cashed the paycheck for your sins by dying. There are no more wages. God is not sending annoyances your way to punish your sins, not only because that’s not the payment for sins, but because He promised to forget about them (Hebrews 8:12).

7:1 If someone got high on meth, led the police on a multi-county chase at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, hit a pole, and died, what would they charge the body with? Nothing. In Deuteronomy 21:22-23 we saw respect for a dead person that resembles God’s Image because death ended their outstanding legal obligation.

7:2-3 Roman and Jewish marriage laws were similar enough to use this example as an illustration. Believers are not suddenly back under the Law (Romans 6:14). This shows how we are free from the Law, and yet, ironically, it mostly gets used to accuse believers. You don’t have to listen to Sin trying to make you make bad sexual choices because you are under grace. (Also, for the legalistic readers the same Greek word is translated “sexual relations” and “marries” here, so this is not about a believer re-marrying after a divorce for the Shammai-approved causes like sexual immorality, abuse, abandonment etc., but a married lady running around on her husband, or one of those Hillel-ite “for any reason” divorces Jesus and John the Baptist spoke against.)

7:4 “belong to Another” Paul was familiar with the Bride of God stuff from Isaiah 62:4-5, etc. Regarding “in order that”: Notice that the purpose of dying to the Law is to bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). That’s not the sort of thing God would do lightly, so it’s pretty clear that you have to die to the Law for the fruit God wants to grow. See Galatians 2:19. The born again (John 3) have already died.

7:5 The Law arouses sinful passions. Forbidden fruit is imagined to be the tastiest, so “thou shalt not” may as well be an invitation. Don’t think of a purple dragon. Don’t think of a purple dragon flapping his wings, waving, and grinning. Okay, say hi to Figment for me.

7:6 Now, instead of born sinners looking at tablets of stone and trying to deny themselves what they really want to do, there is a new way. Holy, righteous saints (made entirely through Jesus’ finished work) can listen to their new hearts and the Holy Spirit and do the good things they actually want to do (John 10:10, Ephesians 2:10).

People argue over whether this next bit depicts Paul’s life before or after salvation. In the interest of everyone getting along, either way, whatever heading your translation has here, another good one would be “Sin Thrives Under the Law”.

7:7-8 The Law arouses sinful passions (verse 5). Wow, coveting of every kind (Exodus 20:17)? Paul not only wanted that dude’s wife, his house, his servant, and his donkey but also wanted that other guy to lack those things instead or for him to die like Nabal (1 Samuel 25) so the leftovers would be available.

This phrase deserves special focus: “apart from the Law, sin was dead”. Want Sin to have no power in your life? Then you know what to do about putting yourself under the Law. Where is the law about coveting located? It’s one of the Ten Commandments. In 2 Corinthians 3 as well, we see that the Ten Commandments are a ministry of condemnation and death. Post the Empty Tomb everywhere you would think about posting the Commandments, as the Resurrection is the only thing that fixes people.

7:9-10 See Leviticus 18:5.

7:11 Paul fought the Law, and the Law won.

7:12 The Law is perfect in its ability to send honest people running to Christ.

7:13 The Law isn’t evil. The Law is a tool that shows humanity its need for a Savior. If the Law is nearby, struggle with sin is nearby, too. Work doesn’t work.

7:17 God knows the new heart he gave you. Sometimes, our actions don’t always line up with who we are, and that problem will continue until we get our new bodies free from the influence of Sin (Romans 7:24, 1 Corinthians 15).

7:18 “sinful nature” There was a successful effort to change how the Greek word sarx is translated in the NIV (but it might still be an issue in your Bible, depending on your translation of choice); before it was re-translated, the NIV taught that believers still had a “sinful nature” despite Colossians 2:11-12 saying it was cut away at conversion. The sarx is just “the flesh” (sometimes capitalized “the Flesh” analogous to sin/Sin), the way of human effort in contrast to the way of faith. The flesh amounts to the old worldly patterns for making life work apart from Christ that are slowly un-learned in the new life by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2); it is in contrast to “the Spirit”. Your old self died at the Cross. Jesus fixed our hearts, but we now renew our minds by learning the new way to live from the new heart. A dead flower can bloom in water, but it is still dead. There is good-looking “flesh” to be wrongly proud of, like Paul’s entire spiritual resumé as a Pharisee, and there is bad-looking “flesh” like the sins people run to in order to cope with life instead of leaning on Jesus. Sin likes to encourage anything but looking to Jesus. When I was a baby, I would refuse help by saying “I do it by itself!” The Flesh is something people can set their minds on (Romans 8:6-7) and walk according to (2 Corinthians 10:3 KJV, Galatians 5:16). It battles the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). It is the way of human effort (Galatians 3:3). It can be a resumé of strengths and status (1 Corinthians 1:26 KJV, Philippians 3:4-6), an object of confidence (Philippians 3:4). Instead of clinging to old habits and strategies, be transformed by the renewal of the mind (Romans 12:2). Rule-keeping or self improving flesh is no better (Galatians 3:3, Col 2). Plenty of groups of outlaws who started on their paths because they were sick of society’s rules have subsequently created strict rule books and accompanying hierarchies/structure. The try-hards and the antinomians are both wrong. Relax in the sufficiency of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9).

Are you trying to follow Colossians 3:5? Look to Jesus, in Heaven, where you are with Him (Philippians 4:8, Colossians 3:2). The Flesh is not the body. Your foot doesn’t get angry, jealous, etc. The sarx is like what the dead “in Adam” have instead of the Holy Spirit. It is dead to God and alive to sin. I was on prescription acne medication that can cause suicidal thoughts as a side effect. Even if you know you are under the influence of something, you can’t un-think some things. Thought patterns like that linger until the mind’s renewal; the body itself is not bad. The Flesh is another entity. The Flesh may as well be called the Corpse. Have you ever seen an old vampire show in which someone is counseled that what they’re about to fight isn’t their friend, it’s the thing that killed him? And that the dead husk the vampire is wearing as a meatsuit might have trace memories and personality traits from its human host, but is a demon at the core? The Flesh is like those lingering host traits; the new self has set up shop in an old body and a mind set in its ways. You’re “possessed” by the Holy Spirit, but He politely lets you still think, make mistakes, and learn. (Somewhere between Judaism and Greek philosophy arose the notion of the yetzer hara or “evil impulse”, the drive to create that runs wild and leads to sin. They say no man would build a business or get married without it. This line of thinking lumps sinful behavior in with mere natural appetites.) The Corpse, Sin, the devil, and the unbelieving world are all allied in their functions. I have overheard several exchanges like this: “Want some chips? Naw, I’m good.” What if believers really accepted their new goodness in Christ and knew they were able to casually refuse sinning in a similar fashion? “Sin? No thanks. I’m an alien in this world and, if I’m honest with myself, what you like horrifies me inside.”

7:19-20 Have you ever heard someone disclaim their actions or words with “God knows my heart”? Paul distinguishes his Inner Man that wants to do good and the Outer Man that stumbles in many ways.

7:22 like Psalm 1:2.

7:23 like 1 Peter 2:11.

7:24 “this body” is still part of the fallen world and subject to influence from Sin. Believers have new hearts, new spirits, and the Holy Spirit and can choose to avoid Sin, unlike unbelievers. When believers get resurrection bodies like His (as we’ll see in 1 Corinthians 15), there won’t even be opportunities to fail anymore.

7:25 The solution is we get delivered. We’re sheep. He’s the Shepherd. We can’t mess it up because He’s doing this. To have an easier go of it until He comes, remember there aren’t two “yous”. The bad “you” died, and attempts to appeal to it are lies. You are the good “you” now.

8:1 There is no condemnation. None. See John 3:18 and John 5:24. The Accuser would like to keep you in full-time ministry to yourself trying to atone for things that Jesus already atoned for; if you know you’re okay, you might (gasp) help other people and tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ.

8:2-4 “the law of sin and death” is Ezekiel 18:20; sinners die. Jesus did that for us. See 1 Corinthians 15:55-57. He met the requirement. This is the meaning of Matthew 5:17. Some believers freak out in verse 4 looking at their recent actions to see if they’re living according to the flesh, but they’re not. Believers have died, and Christ is our life (Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:4). He is our source of life, not the flesh. It’s not something we do or don’t do (which would be “walking by the flesh” instead of deriving life from it aka living by it), but something He did when he “condemned sin in the flesh” by dying (2 Corinthians 5:21). Walking by the flesh is a natural consequence of only believing in or thinking about what you observe with your own senses or what the world tells you. See 2 Corinthians 5:7 and Colossians 3:2. Walking by the Spirit believes God and His promises. See Proverbs 3:5-6.

8:5 Paul contrasts saved people and lost people in this next section. Review Romans 6 if necessary. “Those who live according to the flesh” are slaves of sin. “Those who live in accordance with the Spirit” are slaves to righteousness because of what Jesus Christ did for us

8:6 The mind that is governed by the flesh is that of a slave to sin, and therefore it belongs to an unbeliever. This argument will get clearer in verse 9.

8:7-8 like Romans 6:20.

8:9 “You” are in the Spirit if you believe in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:2,5). Unbelievers don’t have the Spirit. All Christians have the Spirit and none of that gimmicky touchy “second blessing” stuff is needed. See 1 Corinthians 12:3.

8:10-11 Remember Jesus’ prayer to be united with believers in John 17.

8:13 Remember the audience. The “you” that might be living according to the flesh (the Romans 8:5 unbelievers) is the same “you” being offered salvation through belief in Romans 10:9 in different words. Not every part of every verse is addressed to people who are already Christians. Regarding “you will die”, we already died with Christ (Romans 6:6-7). Jesus already put to death the misdeeds of the body back in Romans 8:3-4, so we put them to death when we became united in Spirit with Him. See Galatians 2:20 and Hebrews 10:14.

8:14 Being “led” is constant and common to all believers (Psalm 23:3, Isaiah 30:21, John 16:13). We don’t always listen (James 3:2), but we’re always led. We have good things ahead of us in Romans 8:28-31.

8:15-16 Don’t be afraid. God adopted you. You’re not on probation.

8:17 We are co-heirs with Christ, and Christ owns everything (Matthew 28:18, Philippians 2:9). We do share in His sufferings (Isaiah 53:12) because we died with Him (Galatians 2:20). We are one, and we are one with Him (John 17:20-23), so the ongoing persecution faced by Christians in parts of the world is persecution of us all (John 15:18, John 16:33). We already mentioned that Paul’s suffering (Acts 9:16, Colossians 1:24) lent legitimacy to his message; Christ’s sacrifice already paid any debt.

8:19-23 The Fall warped Creation. See Isaiah 11:6-9.

8:24 “we were saved” Consider it done.

8:26-27 Do you ever worry about not praying enough, or not praying well enough? The Holy Spirit has your back.

8:28 Whatever is thrown at you, Christ works in us (Philippians 1:6), and we get more Christlike. We are glorious and in right standing with God throughout the process. God is not sending difficulties and tragedies to you to punish you for your sins. The “wages of sin” is not car trouble, but death (Romans 6:23); Jesus already paid the bill, and He didn’t miss any sins.

Before we go any further, we should clear up what predestination is and is not. There is a popular incorrect teaching that God picked certain individuals to save (and therefore picked everyone else to send to Hell), which would make all evangelism and encouragement of people to believe pointless. An oversimplified summary of Calvinism can be thought of as a “tulip”; “totally depraved” people who cannot come to God without Him forcing them are “unconditionally” elected to salvation (and everyone else is damned), making Christ’s sacrifice “limited” to only being efficacious for the picked and grace “irresistible”. They at least say that saints “persist” since Jesus promised us that no one can take us from Him, and that He drives no one away. An oversimplified summary of Arminianism just says the opposite of all those points; God provides prevenient grace to let us come to Him, there is a choice, John 3:16 is true, etc. The Arminians scored so many points saying the opposite of what the Calvinists say that they forgot Jesus’ promises; they still misinterpret a few verses to say that a fall from grace is possible. They lean toward works-based righteousness; read Romans 10:3 before and after reading anything written by one of them.

When Paul spoke of the elect, he spoke of God’s Chosen People. Both here and in Ephesians, the “us” or the ones God “foreknew” are the Jews/Abraham’s descendants (Romans 11:1-2), and the “you” Paul writes to are the Gentiles grafted into Abraham’s family, which is accomplished entirely by faith in Christ. The Jews considered themselves predestined for the World To Come (Isaiah 45:25), and Paul gave them the unexpected news that God had predestined the Gentiles to have access to righteousness by faith as well. Look ahead to Romans 9:30-33 for context. Think at the level of people groups, believe in Christ, and remember that, in Southern English, “All of Y’all’s Predestined”. We’ve seen some related material before, like in Acts 13:39 (Everyone who believes is set free from every sin), Acts 13:46 (Unbelievers do not consider themselves worthy of eternal life), and Acts 13:48 (All who were appointed for eternal life believed). Regarding God’s omniscience, let me reiterate that knowing that something is going to happen is not the same as causing it.

8:29 The ones God “foreknew” are Abraham’s descendants (Romans 11:1-2). Paul will explain in the next few chapters how the Jews will eventually believe Jesus is the Messiah and how a delay in that led to salvation for believing Gentiles.

8:30 See Romans 9:4 and Romans 8:33. He was always going to provide the solution (Psalm 130:8, 2 Corinthians 5:21). There is a choice, or Paul wouldn’t have spent the next section lamenting those who RSVP’d “no”. You can be Chosen, too, by choosing Christ. Hebrews 10:14 says that He made us perfect forever; that works throughout all time because we now have His life without beginning or ending. See John 1:29, John 12:32, 2 Cor 5:19, 2 Peter 3:9, and 1 Tim 2:3-6. Jesus did everything needed to glorify everyone, all are called, some refuse, and God knowing doesn’t cause it. God’s sovereignty doesn’t mean He always gets what He wants like a billionaire sociopath that coerces employees into sex. God is good. The Bride of Christ is not a Stepford Bride of Frankenstein, and God is not a rapist; His grace can be refused. He’s not going to force anyone to be in a relationship with Him (although some of us like Paul were pursued pretty aggressively), but I don’t understand why anyone would choose the alternative. However, once Jesus moves in, He’s there to stay. Your new life is eternal (Colossians 3:4), and you cannot choose to leave Him (Romans 5:5, 2 Timothy 2:13); believers are merely capable of getting confused and temporarily miserable.

8:31 See Deuteronomy 20:1, Deuteronomy 32:39, Psalm 23:4, Isaiah 43:13, Isaiah 51:16, and John 10:28.

8:32 See John 3:16, Proverbs 10:24, 2 Corinthians 1:20, Philippians 4:19, and 2 Samuel 23:5. In other popular words, “Won’t He do it?! Yes, He will!”

8:33 See Isaiah 50:9.

8:34 See Isaiah 53:12 and Hebrews 7:25.

8:35-36 Paul quoted Psalm 44:22. Facing difficulties does not mean that you are off course (John 16:33).

8:37 Victory is ours because He gave it to us because He loved us even before we loved Him. Your eternal inheritance is safe with Him (1 Peter 1:4-5) where we can’t mess it up.

8:38-39 See Deuteronomy 33:3. His love endures forever (Psalm 136). Chapter 8 started with no condemnation, and now it ends with no separation, either. The powers and principalities are perhaps the evil angels (Ephesians 6:12) in charge of the nations (Deuteronomy 32:8) since the Tower of Babel, like the opposition seen in Daniel 10:13. Paul said that no created being can mess things up between us and God, and we’re created beings.

9:1-3 All Jews thought they were saved (Isaiah 45:25). Since Paul expressed this wish in Romans 9:3, this suggests this isn’t the case (See also Matthew 8:12), and that their universal salvation will be a future national conversion. Paul sounded like Moses in Exodus 32:32. Paul preached to the Gentiles to make the Jews want the righteousness available through faith (Deuteronomy 32:21, Romans 11:14).

9:4 See Exodus 4:22.

9:5 Skipping the Messiah was warned against (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).

9:6-8 See Romans 2:29 and Jeremiah 9:25-26.

9:9 in Genesis 18:10,14.

9:12 in Genesis 25:23.

9:13 in Malachi 1:2-3.

9:14-18 See Exodus 33:19 and Exodus 9:16. Predestination is at the group level rather than the individual; God chose to save the Gentiles as well as the Jews. God is free to generally harden Israel temporarily like the pharaoh (minus a remnant) until all Gentiles who will choose to get on board with Jesus. Deuteronomy 32:21 was in the manual all along. See also Isaiah 65.

9:16 “Works don’t work.” See Isaiah 64:6.

9:19-21 See Jeremiah 18:5-10, Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 45:9, and Isaiah 64:6-9.

9:22-24 Predestination is at the level of people groups. Paul will soon explain how Gentiles got grafted into Abraham’s family tree.

9:25 in Hosea 2:23. This was about errant Israel, but if He can take them back, He can adopt us too.

9:26 in Hosea 1:10, which is right before Hosea 1:11 which alludes to the Messiah.

9:27-28 See Isaiah 10:22-23. Paul used the Septuagint. Isaiah 10:20 is about trusting God (faith).

9:29 in Isaiah 1:9.

9:30-33 See Isaiah 8:14, Isaiah 28:16, Isaiah 65:1, Psalm 118:22-29, and Matthew 21:42-46. Phrases like “what then shall we say” let us know the point of an argument is imminent. Both Jews and Gentiles were predestined to have the option of being saved by grace through faith. “The one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

10:1 Paul’s prayer for this implies that this is not the universal certainty they thought it was.

10:2 See Matthew 7:23.

10:3 The NLT emphasizes that they were clinging to their own ways, trying to keep the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses diagnoses spiritual death and emphasizes the need for the Savior.

10:4 Christ is the end of, the culmination of, and the whole point of the Law of Moses. See Hebrews 7:12. The LORD is our righteousness (Jeremiah 33:16).

10:5 in Leviticus 18:5, but it meant doing all of these things (Galatians 3:10, James 2:10).

10:6-7 Paul referenced Moses’ assertion about the feasibility of the Law from Deuteronomy 30:12-13 to put the responsibility of saving us back on Jesus.

10:8 “the word” from Deuteronomy 30:14 for us is Jesus the Word from John 1. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says to choose Life (John 14:6), and the LORD is your life (Colossians 3:4).

10:9 The same “you” being offered salvation through belief in Romans 10:9 was being offered it using different words in Romans 8:13. Remember the audience. Not every part of every verse is addressed to people who are already Christians. There is not a magic spell or precise wording needed, see verse 13.

10:10 While speech can overflow from or be indicative of the inner life (Mark 7:15, Luke 6:45), verse 10 is explained in verse 13. See 1 John 4;15, 1 Corinthians 12:3, Matthew 10:32, and Luke 12:8.

10:11 in Isaiah 28:16.

10:12 Are we blessed? Yes. How much? Richly. What is the standard for obtaining that? Only asking: “All who call.”

10:13 from Joel 2:32, which was also quoted in Acts 2:21. Think about genuinely asking Jesus to save you. Would you ask someone to do something for you if you didn’t think they were alive to hear you? Would you ask someone to save you that you didn’t think could? And if He can save you, then He has the authority to do so; asking Him to save you is calling Him Lord.

10:14-15 See Isaiah 52:7. Not every Christian is an evangelist. We’ll discuss the various spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians. Most of us are meant to live quiet lives in support of the Gospel.

10:16 in Isaiah 53:1.

10:17-18 in Psalm 19:4. See Colossians 1:23. Some of the early evangelists had abilities like speaking in foreign languages (Acts 2:8) and teleportation (Acts 8:39-40).

10:19 in Deuteronomy 32:21. They worshiped idols, so Gentiles like me are now in Abraham’s family, and God is my Father.

10:20-21 in Isaiah 65:1-2.

11:1-2 See 1 Samuel 12:22 and Psalm 94:14. Also, note the “foreknew” as in Romans 8:29.

11:3-4 See 1 Kings 19:10,14,18.

11:5-6 Grace is an undeservedly favored standing, even beyond mercy. Grace is free, or it’s not grace.

11:7 Those Paul spoke of are figuratively the rich that could not fit the camel or rope through the eye of a needle, and the Gentiles are spiritually the sort of poor foreigners (Ephesians 2:12) they were repeatedly told to care for in Deuteronomy. The “elect” among the Jews in the days of Acts were those not temporarily hardened to the Gospel (which allowed for the Gentile inclusion prophecies to come true); this is not an ongoing permanent Heaven or Hell travel booking.

11:8 See Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10. The rest of Deuteronomy 29 did not bode well for them.

11:9-10 in Psalm 69:22-23. The rest of Psalm 69 did not bode well for them.

11:11 A temporary hardening served its purpose back then. Now, all are invited.

11:12 as in verse 15.

11:13-14 Here is the rationale for Paul’s mission.

11:15 “life from the dead” like the national restoration depicted in Ezekiel 37.

11:16 See Numbers 15:19-21. Regarding the root and the branches, Abe’s good, so Abe’s descendants have a future. There has always been one true “chosen people”, and that is the faithful. We are not grafted into the old Israel; Jews and Gentiles are both in the same Body of Christ in the New Creation. See Ephesians 2:12-13.

11:17 See Jeremiah 5:10-11, Romans 9:8, and John 8:37-44. Paul uses familiar imagery from Ezekiel 15, Isaiah 27, Jeremiah 12:14-17, etc. See also John 15 and Galatians 3:6-9.

11:18-21 Paul wrote against Gentile supremacy in the new faith. Gentiles are saved by grace through faith in Christ just like what was offered to the Jews. See Romans 9:6-8. We joined Abraham’s family of believers that looked ahead to the New Creation. Belief is necessary; it is said that God has no grandchildren. God did not trade up for an allegedly morally superior Gentile trophy wife; Gentiles did not replace the Jews in a new hereditary arrangement. An unbelieving Gentile and an unbelieving Jew are in the same boat. The “trembling” is just appropriate awe and humility at having been saved by grace undeservingly. If you’re worried He “will not spare you”, remember your spirit of adoption (Romans 8:14-17). You have been changed, you are God’s child, you’re not on probation; your new heart is not like those that the sort of unbelievers that were broken off “because of unbelief” had. If you’re concerned about a believer who, for example, started blaspheming because of Alzheimer’s, God looks deeper than we do (1 Samuel 16:7) to the heart He installed at conversion. Jesus has got you; see 2 Timothy 2:13 and Hebrews 7:25.

11:22-24 “you” is plural, so this is for Gentiles as a group just like the Jews in verse 23 and all of this is contingent on belief in Christ.

11:25 The full number of the Gentiles includes people from every tribe, tongue, and nation (Revelation 5:9). The last will be first, and the first (Exodus 4:22) will be last.

11:26-27 “all Israel” Paul quotes the Septuagint’s Isaiah 59:20-21 and Jeremiah 31:33-34. Romans 9:6-8 still applies. See Isaiah 27:11-13.

11:28 See Exodus 20:6.

11:29 See Deuteronomy 30:4-5, 2 Samuel 7:14-15, 2 Samuel 7:29, 1 Chronicles 17:27, and Micah 7:18-20. Also, His gifts are irrevocable, and we are a gift from God to Jesus (John 17:6).

11:30 “have now received mercy” That’s security, not “waiting on pins and needles hoping you might some day get mercy”.

11:31-33 Paul ends with the humility of Job when faced with God’s secret plan. God wants to save everyone, and Jesus did everything necessary for that. He stands at the door and knocks, but He won’t knock it down. Being made in His Image rather than being automatons gives us the agency to choose Him.

11:34 See Isaiah 40:13.

11:35 See Job 41:11.

Let’s briefly recap Romans so we can properly understand the next section. Paul explained that neither the Jews nor the Gentiles were able to be saved on their own merit, and that righteousness comes from faith in Jesus. Believers have stopped being slaves of the entity known as Sin, and have started being slaves of righteousness because of their new good nature imparted at salvation as part of the New Covenant. Paul said that living under the Law of Moses increased sinning, and that believers were done with the Law. He wrote an extended aside about why he was the Apostle to the Gentiles in order to help the Jews come to Christ. He wrapped up his argument with the realization that all that had come before was toward the purpose of the Gentiles having access to grace by faith, too, so God’s mercy would be available to everyone.

Paul is about to start giving behavior instructions for Christians. Scholars have counted 613 rules in the Law of Moses; people say that there are over a thousand imperatives in the New Testament. What’s the difference? Ask yourself, “what happens if I don’t obey?” People under the Old Covenant had to look forward to animal sacrifices, their own deaths, etc., for disobedience. You have a different reason to obey the New Testament behavior instructions. You have the righteousness that comes from faith that Paul described. You are a saint, so act like a saint. You will never be fulfilled by any other type of living. Paul said to avoid sin because you already died to it, not because God would be angered by sins (that He promised to forget). Know the truth of who you are in Christ and live from it. He even guides you directly (Romans 14:4). Rather than the harsh Sermon on the Mount, it’s going to look like grace teaching us to say no to Sin (Titus 2:12) and instead behaving in a way that makes the Gospel of Jesus Christ attractive (Titus 2:10). Familiar topics from the Sermon are also in Romans 12 (like prayer in verse 12, and guidance about money, anger, integrity, sexual morality, love, etc.), but the advice all amounts to living as a response to the salvation you already received. It’s going to look like living from Him, and therefore naturally Believing, Loving, and avoiding material covered by the Council at Jerusalem, the Noahide infractions, etc. It’s going to look like doing the opposite of Romans 1:18-32. It’s going to look like the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

12:1 “offer” See Romans 6:13 for clarification. See Hosea 6:6. God’s not holding a debt over you (Colossians 2:14); we’re a permanent exhibit in His museum of grace and kindness (Ephesians 2:7). Regarding “living sacrifice”, this contrasts the Temple offerings which were dead sacrifices. Christ is the perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 10:14, 1 John 2:1-2). The Gentiles coming to God in this manner was foreshadowed in Isaiah 66:20. Our offerings are praise, thanks, and sharing (Hebrews 13:15-16).

12:2 “this world” Apart from general statements about all humanity like the world in John 3:16, phrases like this usually mean the world in which Paul’s audience got this piece of mail, namely pagan Christian-killing Rome. Refusing to conform to the pattern of this world is not about things like resembling our neighbors in dress, hobbies, etc., but about staying off the road Paul described in Romans 1:18-32. We are still in a fallen world (Romans 8:20-21) that makes a mockery of God’s good creation, everything seems to be trying to kill and eat each other, the birds seem to scream in pain rather than sing, etc. To be transformed by the renewal of your mind, Paul gave us some advice in Colossians 3:1-3: Since we have been raised with Christ, and our real lives are hidden with Christ in God, we can focus on Him, our eternal reality, our new nature, etc., instead of this fever dream made of rotting things and misery. Your heart and spirit are new, but you still have your old brain and its associated old thought patterns (Romans 7:21-25). For example, impatience in traffic may be an attitude He’s working on, but love (and the other ways to recognize the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23) is your nature now.

12:3 “highly” Don’t put undue pressure or responsibility on yourself. He is the Good Shepherd, and I am a sheep He remodeled (Romans 15:14).

12:4-5 Cookie-cutter Christians aren’t the goal. We don’t all have to be the same. Not everyone is an apostle, not everyone speaks in tongues, etc. Not every tool in the toolbox gets used for every job or every day. The lesson of John 13 was to serve each other, and the Spirit gives us our own individual ways to help the rest of the Body of Christ. Your thing will likely be very easy for you (Ephesians 2:10) as your Creator knows what He’s doing.

12:6 We’ve been in the end times since Jesus came here in human flesh. Prophecy now is not primarily fortune telling (though an Agabus from Acts 11 and Acts 21 is not impossible) but a clear witness for Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:10) or, in other words, good preaching. Evangelism is a separate spiritual gift in Ephesians 4.

12:7 “serving” Volunteerism, being a deacon, waiting tables like the believers in Acts 6, etc.

12:8 The Sermon on the Mount told all Jews to give to all who asked; here, generosity is a special gift. “Mercy” here has several flavors in Greek. The Sermon on the Mount told all Jews that they could only expect to be forgiven with the quality of forgiveness they had given others; here, being merciful/forgiving/healing/helping is a special gift. To “lead” is to shepherd a flock and is called being a pastor in Ephesians 4. Being a pastor is being a quasi-paterfamilias; it entails dealing with church family squabbles, visiting ailing members, watching the purse strings, speaking on behalf of the congregation to the world, etc.

12:9 See Amos 5:15. Here “evil” connotes harmful, malicious, demonic, immoral things. Love without hypocrisy is not always pleasant. Sinless Jesus’ keepin’-it-real kindness seen in flipping tables and calling out snakes was born of love.

12:14 The Sermon on the Mount version of this was loving your enemies. Cursing in the ancient world meant trying to cause harm to an enemy with words, like saying “drop dead!” to them and expecting it to work.

12:16 Again, living in harmony is a lower bar to meet than considering anger as bad as murder.

12:17 “right in the eyes of everyone” Lend credence to the Gospel (Titus 2:10) with personal integrity, let your word mean something (Matthew 5:37), etc.

12:18 “as far as it depends on you” For those who advocate total pacifism, note that Paul basically advocated a worldview that says, “Don’t start nothin’, won’t be nothin’.”

12:19 in Deuteronomy 32:35. See also Leviticus 19:18.

12:20 in Proverbs 25:21-22. See also Proverbs 20:22, Psalm 11:6, Genesis 19, and Revelation 8:5.

12:21 “overcome evil with good” You can do this by befriending an enemy, refusing to sin by trusting your new status as a saint, etc.

13:1 Oddly, this includes usurpers who disobeyed this verse. See Proverbs 8:15-16, Proverbs 21:1, Daniel 2:37-47, and Daniel 4:17. God has established the rulers in order to punish wrongdoing, even by the rulers themselves (Daniel 4:32). The devil occupies such a position (2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 6:12, 1 John 5:19, Luke 4).

13:2-4 What better way to counter the claims of the Roman government that Christians were a politically subversive element than to include some proverbial flag waving in the official literature? The instructions for how to behave as men, women, employees, etc., throughout the Epistles also speak to these accusations. As to “bring judgment on themselves”, John 5:24 says we’re good as far as Heaven is concerned, so this is about Earth. Christ died for our sins, but there are still temporal consequences for behavior here. If someone attempted regicide, no voice from Heaven would tell the court to stand down because the perpetrator’s a Christian. See Romans 8:10. Another facet of bearing the sword is that if you are a citizen of a republic, you are a unit of government and can biblically defend your family and community accordingly (revenge, murder, etc., are still prohibited) per your Constitution, local laws, etc.

13:5 There are limits; they can’t command what God forbids or forbid what God commands (Acts 5:29). Remember our discussion of 1 Kings 21:1-3. The state can be an idol. Old escape-in-a-basket Paul (2 Corinthians 11:33) sounds like he’s being a little tongue-in-cheek here as in Acts 23:5 right before causing a riot in his defense for causing a riot. Also, God’s behavioral absolutes for us on this side of the Cross and the Resurrection are not extensive, so we should be pretty easy to get along with now.

13:6 That tax money would have supported the armies that occupied their land and killed believers as well as benefiting the Imperial Cult and other idol worship. Feel free to be as scrupulous as the Spirit moves you to be, but things like this and Paul’s stance on grocery store meat previously used for idolatry (we’ll get there soon) mean you don’t have to overthink most of what you buy or what’s in your retirement account.

13:7 See Exodus 22:28 and Mark 12:17. Also, praying (1 Timothy 2:1-2) for the security and prosperity of the nation whose thumb you live under is in the spirit of Jeremiah 29:4-7. Also, since respect and honor are requested here, things like the Pledge of Allegiance are not idolatry.

13:8 Even the new commandment of love is impossible to keep; there’s always a deficit. We cannot pay Him back. The Old Testament believers were commanded to love God perfectly (Deuteronomy 6:5), and they were doomed to fail; God loves us perfectly, and the Cross demonstrates this. Jesus loves the hard-to-love people in your life enough to die for them. Jesus connected love of God and love of neighbor in Matthew 22:37-40. People are made in God’s image; He is neither ugly nor a bad artist, and only He is qualified to judge His work. I don’t say this as if I am any good at doing this; it can be a struggle to love, and it can be hard to get out of your own way to let His love shine through you when dealing with difficult people. You don’t have to fake it or manufacture “wax fruit” in your efforts to emulate John 13; His love is in your heart (Romans 5:5), love is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and He is the Vine that nourishes us (John 15:5). God notably pays double for trouble (Job 42:12), so try not to get bent out of shape along the way. We’ll get there (Philippians 1:6).

Also, most Christians don’t invest enough for their retirements per Romans 13:8. We are supposed to owe no one anything but to love them, so staying out of debt and building a strong enough portfolio to avoid becoming a bum in your old age are important. Being content with what you have in Hebrews 13:5 isn’t a prohibition of professional ambition, it was aimed at people tempted to renounce Christ to return to the synagogue for the associated social support and job opportunities. Don't give more than you can afford to. Paul said to get free if you can (1 Corinthians 7:21, and someone giving everything away wouldn’t be able to do that). Doctors nowadays keep extending our lifespans (through Frankenstein-esque means at times). Plan ahead for your lower-income years. In Bible times, people worked until they died or until their five sons took over the farming and supported them. The New Testament warnings against idleness were directed at believers (especially Thessalonians) that thought Jesus was returning immediately. They had quit their jobs to wait for the end of the world and were becoming a drain on the productive members of the congregation. They mistook Him returning "quickly" like a flash of lightning with no time left to repent once He's started with Him returning "now".

13:9-10 The Book of Romans repeatedly tells us that believers are not under the Law of Moses. Loving people made in God’s Image just happens to naturally exceed the restrictions in that code, the Noahide Laws, etc. See Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:31, and James 2:8.

13:11 Therefore, time is running out for other people to buy into the Gospel. Also, “be patient, this persecution nonsense will be over before you know it compared to the eternity we’re looking forward to.”

13:12-13 The “so that everyone can approve of our behavior like in Romans 12:17” is implied. We discussed the “mere lust = adultery” prevailing interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount; Paul’s advice to Christians is closer to the Council at Jerusalem’s ruling in Acts 15. Don’t forget that in context, Paul was prohibiting blackout drunkenness like at rituals for Bacchus and ritual group sex parties for Aphrodite, etc. See Matthew 11:19 (Jesus partied) and Leviticus 18 (the sex crimes even historical Gentiles died for are where the actual bar is set).

13:14 As far as the outfit God is looking for, believers are wearing it (Galatians 3:27). This is in the context of attitudes and actions. Since you have Jesus on the inside, displaying Jesus on the outside in your life just makes sense. As to the back half of the verse, (ironically flesh-powered) attempts to totally deny yourself can make you more susceptible to the enemy’s suggestions. Thinking “about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” involves planning and creativity, like finding out when a neighbor’s wife is alone. Our discussion of Colossians 2:20-23 will clarify this.

14:1 The “weak” are overly scrupulous and the “strong” can deal in good faith with situations that others with less understanding might see as sinful. In the truth of Christ, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in everything, love. The “weak” aren’t supposed to hinder the “strong” with judgment, either (verses 3 and 13); try not to offend and not to be offended. Here’s the background of the issue Paul wrote about: As with Naaman and Jehu, idolatry must be sincere to be a problem. See 2 Kings 5:18-19 and 2 Kings 10:25. Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome for disputes over "Chrestus". This is how Paul became acquainted with Priscilla and Aquila. The Jews returned to Rome after Claudius' murder. The returning Jewish Christians (still zealous for the Law of Moses as in Acts 21:20) were distressed at the food the Gentile believers were bringing to the love feasts. Communion was more like a church pot-luck dinner in those days. The word translated as “bread” is more like “staple food”, and you can see different dishes in different translations worldwide: Jesus said to remember that He died for us as often as we eat food or drink liquid, and of course we made a ritual of it. Paul's treatment of this issue will enlighten our exploration of the rest of the New Testament's behavioral instructions.

14:2 This was because the meat and wine available for purchase at the time was likely sacrificed to idols. The same issue is addressed in 1 Corinthians 8. See Deuteronomy 12:20.

14:3-4 That's a beautiful promise that God will give you the will and ability to please Him (Phil 2:13). See also Isaiah 41:10, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, Jude 24, and Heb 13:20-21.

14:5 Christ is our Sabbath every day with no special observance required from us. See Hebrews 4 and Galatians 4:10-11.

14:6-7 Our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing the best they can with what they know.

14:8 We belong to Him and go where He is at death.

14:10 “all” This just means that judging another person is above my paygrade. I already took the plea bargain (John 5:24, Hebrews 7:25, Hebrews 8:12, 1 John 2:1). God’s throne is a throne of grace in Hebrews 4:16.

14:11 in Isaiah 45:23.

14:12 See the verse 10 note.

14:13-15 The New Testament was written primarily to former pagans who had trouble being formerly pagan. Attempting to adhere more closely to the original words and meanings of Scripture will be seen by some as licentiousness. I’m not trying to give you crazy new ideas of how to exploit your freedom in Christ; I just propose that the real line is probably farther away than you think it is (or where you’d even want to be), and that you may be tangled in an imaginary spiderweb of man-made rules. (But just to be clear, Paul was thinking of the food in Acts 10 and Mark 7 in verse 14, not things prohibited in Leviticus 18.) No matter what you learn here or elsewhere, try not to offend your brothers and sisters in Christ, your spouse, the community you are witnessing to, etc. Also, be sure to be fully convinced by Scripture and the Spirit. If you think something is wrong and do it anyway, you did wrong (verse 22-23). That "someone" we are warned about destroying is the Body of Christ, church unity, etc. Concern for the "weaker brother" aka the unnecessarily scrupulous is important in all our dealings.

14:16 “good” meaning Christianity.

14:18-19 Many of the New Testament behavior instructions amount to avoiding being seen as obnoxious or a nuisance so the Gospel remains attractive. See Titus 2:10.

14:20-21 Remember that Romans 14 was written in the context of a joint church service with Jewish and Gentile Christians. Colossians 2:16 still applies. They were free to enjoy their pork ribs at home with thanks to God without causing a fight at church. It’s about being respectful of each other in our homes or church gatherings, not permanently swearing off meat and/or alcohol altogether because someone else somewhere in the world has a struggle.

14:22-15:2 Thinking something is wrong and doing it anyway is wrong. You may know that idols are inanimate and decide to go back to your old church to hit up the buffet (not a service), but someone without that knowledge might be inspired to go worship idols. As with Naaman and Jehu (2 Kings 5:18-19 and 2 Kings 10:25), idolatry must be sincere to be sin. Also, thinking something is right but doing it to “get right with God” or “stay right with God” is not faith in Jesus and is therefore sinful. Thinking you’re less than one hundred percent forgiven is not faith in Jesus and His finished work is also sinful, for which you are also forgiven. There are many reasons not to sin as a born again child of God, but getting more forgiven is not one of them.

Paul accepted the ruling of the Council at Jerusalem in Acts 15. Let’s examine his interpretation of it: Looking ahead to 1 Corinthians 10, after some gloomy talk of death for idol worship, eating food sacrificed to idols, and temple prostitution, Paul’s solution was that buying known idol worship leftovers at the grocery store is enough of an abstraction. Wouldn't the demand of Christians buying idol meat encourage additional idolatry to meet the supply? Paul says not to overthink it. In 1 Corinthians 5:10, Paul discourages leaving the world. We are to be fishers of men, a fragrant aroma of Christ to a world in need of His resurrection life. We are to be accessible to the unbeliever, and to have a presentation more attractive than "Would you like to be as anxious, overworked, and miserable as me?"

I know that you're probably not dealing with whether to eat at a temple to a false god today. Many pastors try to make this applicable by saying that well-adjusted Christians have lives full of "idols" like spouses, children, jobs, etc. They accuse us of being too worldly and pass a hat to help us fix that. Rather, let's look at Paul's approach to food sacrificed to idols and apply it to real issues we encounter. Should you let your kids go trick or treating? Halloween was a pagan holiday, after all. Wait a minute, does the kid wish to sacrifice a classmate to Nergal? Or dress up like a superhero and get free candy? No idolatry, no problem. Oops, I said superhero. That's just paganism for nerds, right? (The implications of John 10:34-36 and 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 mean you can watch basically all the mythical junk you want to, as long as you are clear that God is God.) Wait, are you sacrificing animals to Superman and asking him for favors? Or is it just a story? Can superhero movies provide conversational and sermon opportunities to share the Gospel? Yes. Wait, Christmas and Easter used to be pagan holidays; what about those? True, but Christianity is how formerly pagan people become holy. Recycling them to celebrate Christ is a beautiful illustration of the new creation, taking formerly dead humans and their inventions and reviving them with the life of Christ. We are to flee from idols (1 Corinthians 10:14), but the evil one cannot touch us (1 John 5:18). You are free in Christ, just don't scandalize anyone. Care about the "weaker brother". For example, if a fellow believer doesn't want their kid seeing some movie, don't cause a fight by bringing them along with your kids if you were planning on going. Their pastor may have walked out of Pollyanna in 1960 during the opening credits when he saw the nudity and can only imagine the alleged degeneracy Disney might hypothetically be filming this many years later without knowing what he’s preaching about. (That’s a G-rated childrens’ movie from a time with a different cultural attitude toward skinny dipping and depictions thereof.) Again, don’t overthink concern for the weaker believer. Colossians 2:16 applies. It’s about being respectful of each other in our homes, churches, and personal dealings; not permanently swearing off behaviors you are okay with in light of what Scripture and the Holy Spirit say because someone else somewhere in the world has an issue with it.

15:3 in Psalm 69:9.

15:4 We read the Old to understand the New. Don’t forget which covenant you’re under while you read it.

15:5-8 Remember the context of Jewish Christians who had been expelled from Rome returning to worship with their Gentile Christian brethren.

15:9 See 2 Samuel 22:50 and Psalm 18:49.

15:10 See Deuteronomy 32:43.

15:11 See Psalm 117:1

15:12 in Isaiah 11:10 in the Septuagint.

15:13 Amen.

15:14 Our old selves died. We are new (Galatians 2:20).

15:15-16 See Isaiah 66:20-23.

15:19 Illyricum was located more or less where modern Albania is.

15:21 See Isaiah 52:15.

15:27 See Isaiah 60:10-14.

16:1-2 Phoebe the female deacon disproves certain modern interpretations of who is fit for service in the church.

16:3 Priscilla and Aquila were in Acts 18.

16:7 Whether Junia is esteemed by the apostles or is a female apostle is still debated.

16:13 See Mark 15:21-22.

16:17 See Philippians 3:2 and Titus 1:10-16.

16:18 “their own appetites” by trying to get your money (2 Corinthians 2:17, 1 Timothy 6:5, 2 Peter 2:3). What is translated as “flattery” is more like “fair speeches”. 2 Corinthians 11 gives us a good idea of the Sophists/trained orators that tried to steal Paul’s flock and fleece them.

16:19 “obedience” to King Jesus’ Gospel, which created opportunities for the verse 18 people.

16:20 like Genesis 3:15.

16:21 These might be the guys from Acts 17:5-9 and Acts 20:4.

16:23 Likewise, Gaius could be from Acts 19:29 and Erastus could be from Acts 19:22.

16:26 “the obedience that comes from” or “the obedience that is” faith.

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