Reading for September 8th

Read Romans 10.14-21

In verses 14-17: Hearing the gospel of Christ.

In verses 14-15: Being summoned is ultimately traceable to proclamation.

In verse 15: Isa 42.7; Nah 1.15.

Proclaimers of God's good news are like messengers announcing battle victories.

In verse 16: Isa 53.1

In verse 17: Abraham may be in view if word of God is read.

In verses 18-21: Israel's refusal to hear.

The law, prophets, and the writings attest Israel's disobedience.

In verse 18: Ps 19.4.

In verse 19: Deut 32.21.

In verse 20: Isa 65.1.

In verse 21: Isa 65.2.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 7th

Read Romans 10.1-13

In verses 1-4: Paul's prayer for Israel.

In verses 1-2: Paul speaks of Israel (9.31-33).

In verse 3: Righteousness that comes from God: 1.16-17.

In verse 4: The end of the law: Christ either abolishes the law or its goal, probably the latter (3.21-22).

In verses 5-13: Righteousness through faith.

In verse 5: Lev 18.5.

The emphasis here is on living by doing.

In verse 6a: Deut 9.4.

In verse 6b: Deut 30.14.

Faith does not try to locate Christ "out there" but rather express an inner conviction believed with the heart and expressed with your lips.

In verse 10: What the heart believes, the mouth confesses.

In verse 11: Isa 28.16.

No distinction: Jews and gentiles are justified the same way (3.30).

In verse 13: Joel 2.32.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 6th

Read Romans 9.27-33
In verses 27-29: A remnant will be saved.
In verse 27: Isa 10.22.
In verse 28: Isa 28.22.
In verse 29: Isa 1.9.
On verses 30-33: Gentiles succeeded where Israel failed.
Faith, the capacity to trust God not performance is the critical difference (4.5).
In verse 33: Isa 28.16; Isa 8.14.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 5th

Read Romans 9.14-26
In 9.14-26: God's freedom to choose.
In verse 14: Paul anticipates criticism of his logic (3.3-5).
In verse 15: Ex 33.19.
In verse 16: God does not require human will or exertion to show mercy.
In verse 17: Ex 9.16.
In verse 19: Paul's imaginary dialogue partner responds.
In verses 20-21: The image of the potter and clay (drawn from Isa 29.16; 45.9) emphasizes God's sovereign power.
In verses 22-23: God can show wrath or mercy.
In verses 25-26: From both Jews and Gentiles, God can form a newly beloved people.
In verse 25: Heb 2.25.
In verse 26: Hos 1.10.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 4th

Read Romans 9.1-13

In 9.1-11.36: God's purpose for Israel.

In 9 1.-5: Blessings belonging to Israel.

In verse 5: Here the NRSV retains the ambiguity of the Greek.

Ordinarily, Paul uses such language of God rather than of Christ (1.25; 2 Cor 11.31).

In verses 6-13: Abraham's true descendants.

In verses 6-7: The earlier distinction (2.28-29) between physical and spiritual pedigree is now stated differently.

In verse 7: Gen 21.12.

In verse 8: Children of the promise are gentiles and Jews who, like Abraham, live by faith (4.16).

In verse 9: Gen 18.10.

In verse 12: Gen 25.23.

Like Abraham, Rebecca lived by faith.

In verse 13; Mal 1.2-3.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 3rd

Read Romans 8.26-39
In verses 26-27: The Spirit as intercessor.
In verse 26: Our weakness is being unable to say what we need.
Intercedes: The Spirit pleads our cause before God (Heb 7.25).
In verse 27: Here God knows the Spirit as thoroughly as the human heart (Ps 139.1-6).
Praying "in the Spirit" recognizes the Spirit's mediating role (Eph 6.18; Jude 20).
In verses 28-30: Being part of God's larger purpose.
The alternative readings yield significant differences.
The most believable of the three is: In all things God works for good.
In verses 29-30: The people of God rather than individuals are in view.
In verses 31-39: More than conquerors.
Central to this triumphant finale is what God did in Christ (vv. 32,34, 37, 39), aptly summarized in the final time: the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In verse 32: Christ as God's sacrifice is in view (8.3).
Everything else includes protective care from suffering (v. 35) and cosmic threats, present and future (vv. 37-39).
In verse 33: God's elect are God's people (8.28-30).
In verse 36: Ps 44.22.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 2nd

Read Romans 8.12-25

In verses 12-17; living as God's children.

In verses 12-13: Living according to the flesh leads to various forms of self-gratification, deeds of the body.

In verse 14: This is especially true of Christ (8.3; Lk 4.1-13).

In verses 15-17: The ability to cry, "Abba Father!" derives from the spirit of adoption.

The Spirit's co-testimony does not result from the prayer, as it does in the NRSV text.

The prayer preserves the Aramaic language of Jesus (Mk 14.36; Gal 4.6).

In verses 18-25: Present sufferings and future glory.

In verse 18: Sufferings and glory develop 8.17.

Believers share both experiences with Christ.

In verse 19-25: The creation is the whole created order.

In verse 20: Subjected to futility: The creation story is in view, especially Gen 3.17-19.

In verse 22: The whole universe is viewed as a woman in labor, giving birth to new life (Gal 4.19).

In verse 23: First fruits of the Spirit: In the Old testament, what was harvested first were the "first fruits," and indication of more to come (Ex 23.16).

Similarly, the Spirit is understood here as a foretaste of the future glory.

In verse 24: 2 Cor 4.18.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 1st

Read Romans 8.1-11

In verses 1-8: Life in the Spirit.

In verse 1: No condemnation: Those in Christ no longer feel doomed (Jn 5.24).

In verse 2: God's life giving Spirit unleashed in Christ becomes a liberating law, replacing Moses law that sin uses to produce death (7.5, 11).

In verses 3-4: By sending Christ as a sin offering, God met the requirement of the law (Lev 4-5).

Recognizing what the law ... could not do, however, God dealt with human sin (sin in the flesh) with a human sacrifice (in the likeness of sinful flesh).

In verses 5-8: Faith and the Spirit represent opposing outlooks, with different lifestyles and consequences; death versus life and peace (Gal 5.16-26).

In verses 9-11: God, Christ, Spirit.

Paul now uses the plural form of you (8.2).

His main focus may be group rather than individual identity.

In verse 9: Having the Spirit of Christ becomes the distinguishing mark of Christian identity.

In verse 10: If Christ is in you: Christ's pattern of "dying and rising" becomes a part of us (Gal 2.19-20).

Our body may be mortal because of Adam's sin, yet our spirit lives because of God's righteousness shown through Christ (5.18).

In verse 11: God's Spirit living within us links our experience of the risen Christ with our hope of resurrection life.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 31st

Read Romans 7.14-25

In verses 14-20: The struggle to do good.

I am of the flesh: Paul maybe speaking of his own moral struggle or using "I" to express everyone's experience.

Sin that dwells within me (vv. 17, 20) suggests an alien presence wreaking havoc in an unwilling host.

In verses 21-25: The war within us.

In verse 21: A law means "a rule."

In verse 22: The law of God maybe the Mosaic law (vv. 14,16).

In verse 23: Elsewhere the opposition is between flesh and Spirit. (Gal 5.17).

In verse 25: As before, sin and God are enemies (6.22).

Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 30th

Read Romans 7.1-13
In verses 1-3: Marriage and the law.
Whether the Jewish law (Ex 20.14; Deut 5.18) or Roman law is in view is not clear.
The same principle holds for both: laws governing marriage presuppose two living partners.
The death of one partner (here, the husband) in validates the law, leaving the other partner (the wife) free to marry.
In verses 4-6: Christ's death and the law.
The law of Moses is the first husband, the risen Christ the second husband.
Paul's readers are the wife now discharged from the obligations of the old written code.
Newly married to Christ, they belong to another and enjoy the new life of the Spirit.
generally, the analogy makes sense, but seems forced.
V. 4 is difficult.
In verses 7-13: The value of the law.
In verse 7: V. 5 seems to support this objection.
By naming the sin, the law raises the sinner's consciousness.
To covet is to want something that belongs to someone else (Ex 20.17; Deut 5.21).
In verses 8-11: Sin takes on personal qualities, having power to seize and manipulate people and laws.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 29th

Read Romans 6.15-23
In verses 15-19: Choosing whom to obey.
In verse 15: For Paul's critics, exchanging law for grace encourages sin (3.8).
In verses 16-19: The widespread practice of slavery in antiquity informs Paul's discussion: Living as slaves meant obedient submission (Eph 6.5-9; Col 3.22-4.1).
In verses 20-23: Thinking long term.
In verse 20: To be free is to be without obligation to righteousness.
In verse 21: Sin can cause physical death and ultimate separation from God (8.6, 13).
In verse 22: With changed loyalties comes a purer life, sanctification (1 Thess 4.3), and eventually eternal life with God (5.21).
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 28th

Read Romans 6.5-14
In verses 5-11: Dying and living with Christ.
In verses 5-8: With him: Believers "enter" Christ experience as co-participants (Gal 2.19-20).
In verse 10: He died to sin: In dying, Christ yielded to sin's power to kill.
Christ's death occurred once; his new life with God is ongoing; He lives to God.
In verse 11; Sin and God represent opposing realities and loyalties.
In verses 12-14: Shifting loyalties.
Sin may be an impersonal force, bit it seriously competes with God for dominion over mortal bodies.
In verse 13: Those ... brought from death to life have relived Christ's experience (v. 8).
In verse 14: Christ's death also represents a shift from law to grace (Jn 1.17).
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 27th

Read Romans 6.1-4
In verses 1-4:: Dying to sin.
In verse 1: Paul now answers his critics more fully (3.8).
In verses 2-4: Through baptism, believers ritually enact Jesus' death and resurrection, experiencing the radical shift from death to life as moral renewal: death to sin and newness of life (Col 2.11-12).
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 26th

Read Romans 5.12-21

In verses 12-14: Sin, death, and the law.

In verse 12: tracing sin and death to one man, Adam, is based on Gen 3.

Universal sin brings universal death (Rom 3.9).

In verses 13-14: Adam's sin preceded the Mosaic law chronologically, but the law make sin and its consequences specific, thus easier to deal with.

Adam is seen as a type (a figure with important similarities) of Christ, the one who was to come (1 Cor 15.45-47).

In verse 15-17: Adam and Christ.

Free gift translates different Greek words ("charismata," vv. 15a, 16b; "dorea," vv. 15b, 17; "dorena," v. 16), but they all refer to God's free gift of Christ, which is contrasted with the one man's (Adam's) trespass.

Both event are alike because they show how one person can affect many people.

But they have very different effects.

Adam's trespass brought condemnation (v.16) and death (v. 17), whereas God's free gift of Christ brought justification (v. 16) and life (v. 17).

In verses 18-21: Law and grace.

In verses 18-19: These verses summarize and extend the contrast of the previous section.

In verses 20-21: The Mosaic law came in and made sin and its consequences clear (4.15).

Trespasses multiplied because awareness of sin increased.

Yet, the lethal effects of sin were exceeded by God's grace shown through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This event revealed God's righteousness by proving God reliable and making real the prospect of eternal life (6.23).

Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 25th

Red Romans 5.1-11
In verses 1-5: Peace with God through Christ.
In verse 1: Gal 2.16.
Peace results where justice and righteousness prevail (Isa 32.16-18).
In verse 2: To experience salvation as gift and not as reward, is to stand in God's grace (1 Peter 5.12; Rom 4.4-5).
In verses 2-3: Boast is used positively here, meaning "take pride in" (Rom 3.27; 1 Cor 1.29).
In verses 3-4: Suffering is properly understood within the larger perspective of resurrection hope.
In verse 5: God's past actions provide the basis for hope (Ps 22.3-5).
The Holy Spirit given to the believer is the tangible expression of God's love (Titus 3.6).
In verses 6-11: Christ died for sinners.
In verse 6: The ungodly live against God (Rom 4.5).
In verse 7: It is hard enough to die for a generous, good-hearted person, even harder to die for a hard-hearted righteous person.
In verse 8: Christ death for sinners who are neither good not righteous shows God's unusual love (Jn 3.16; 1 Jn 4.10).
In verse 9: His blood: Jesus' death is understood as atoning sacrifice (Rom 3.25).
In verses 10-11: Those yielding to the power of sin become enemies of God (Rom 3.9-18).
Christ's death reconciles sinful humanity with God (2 Cor 5.18-19; Col 1.21-22); through his resurrection life,
Believers experience similar hope of being saved.
In verse 11: God now becomes the proper object of pride (1 Cor 1.31).
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 24th

Read Romans 4.16-25

In 4.16-25: Abraham's ability to trust.

In verse 16: The promise of God's blessing is given in grace and received in faith to all his descendants, both Jews (adherents of the law) and gentiles (those who share the faith of Abraham).

In verses 17-19: God's creative power is shown by giving life to Abraham's dead body and Sarah's barren womb.

In verse 17: Gen 17.5

In verse 18: Gen 15.5.

In verse 19: Hundred years old, Gen 17.17.

In verses 20-21: Unwavering trust characterizes the faith of Abraham (v. 16).

In verse 22: Gen 15.6

In verses 24-25: To believe that God raised Jesus ... from the dead requires faith like Abraham and Sarah.

For them, receiving God's righteousness meant experiencing God as utterly reliable, as someone whose promises come true.

God can be similarly experienced by those who believe that God gave life to the crucified Jesus.

The language handed over and raised suggests a two-part confession.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 23rd

Read Romans 4.1-15

In verses 1-8: The example of Abraham.

In verse 3: Gen 15.6.

In verses 4-5: Righteousness may be seen as an earned wage given to one who works or as a gift freely bestowed to the one who trust God who accepts sinners.

In verses 7-8: Ps 32.1-2

In verses 9-12: When Abraham received God's blessing.

The sequence of events in Genesis is critical to Paul's argument.

Which was more defining moment for Abraham?

Faith (Gen 15.6) or circumcision (Gen 17.1-14)?

Faith since it came first.

Thus, Abraham is a better ancestor of all who believe (Jews and gentiles) rather than the ancestor of the circumcised (Jews only).

In verses 13-15: God's promise through faith, not the Mosaic Law.

The promise of many descendants through Isaac experienced through righteousness of faith given in Genesis (15.1-6; 18.18; 22.15-18).

It did not come through the law of Moses, which came much later.

Since the promise linked more closely to faith than it is to the law, it is best experienced not by adherents of the law but by those living in faith. 

In verse 15: Without law, there is no sense of violation (Gal 3.19).

Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 22nd

Read Romans 3.21-31
In verses 21-26: Experiencing God's righteousness through Christ.
In verse 21: The righteousness of God: God's integrity and ability to set things right.
In verses 22, 26: To have faith in Jesus Christ means Christ is the object of faith: Believers regard him as God's agent of redemption (v. 24).
To have faith of Jesus Christ means Christ is the example of faith: His fidelity reveals God's integrity and displays the type of faith for which believers should strive (Gal 2.16, 20; 3.20).
In verses 27-31: Faith and law.
In verse 27: Boasting: putting confidence in human achievement instead of divine power (1 Cor 1.29, 31).
In verse 28: This verse compactly summarizes Paul's position (Gal 2.16).
In verses 28-30: Two ways of being religious, or relating to God, are contrasted: through works of the law (of Moses) and law (principle) of faith.
Paul insists that Jews (the circumcised) and gentiles (uncircumcised) relate to God the same way: through ... faith (v. 30).
In verse 31: Overthrow the law probably expresses the views of Paul's critics.
His claim to uphold the law is developed in ch. 4.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 21st

Read Romans 3.1-20
In verses 1-8: Answering Jewish Objections.
In verse 2: Scripture contains the oracles of God, what God has spoken to Israel (Deut 4.7-8; Ps 147.15, 18-20).
In verses 3-7: God's reliability is variously described as faithfulness, justice, truthfulness.
In verse 4: One psalm finds humans unreliable (Ps 116.11), another regards God as an honest judge (Ps 51.4).
In verse 8: This criticism is answered more fully in ch 6.
In verses 9-20: No one has the moral advantage.
In verse 9: Jews and Greeks include everyone (1.16).
In verses 10-18: Various biblical quotations are grouped together to show that all ... are under the power of sin.
In verses 10-12: Eccl 7.20; Ps 14.1-3.
In verse 13: Ps 5.9; 140.3.
In verse 14: Ps 10.7.
In verses 15-17: Isa 59.7-8; Prov 1.16.
In verse 18: Ps 36.1
In verse 20: Ps 143.2; Gal 2.16.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 20th

Read Romans 2.17-29

In verses 17-29 Inconsistent behavior condemn.

In verses 17-18: Jewish identity is closely linked to Torah observance.

In verse 19; Isa 42.6-7.

In verses 21-23: These rhetorical questions directly indict those who boast in the law yet flagrantly violate its teachings.

Stealing and committing adultery are forbidden in the Decalogue (Ex 20.1-17; Deut 5.1-21).

In verse 24: The quotation is based on the Greek version of Isa 52.5.

See Ezek 36.20.

In verses 25-29: What really defines a person.

Gen 17.1-14 required male circumcision as the sign of God's covenant with Israel.

It indicated willingness to observe the Torah (Gal 5.3).

Uncircumcised gentiles who also fulfill the moral requirements of the Torah are, in a spiritual sense, circumcised, and more commendable than Jews who violate Torah.

Circumcision ... of the heart suggests an obedient spirit (Deut 10.16; 30.6).

Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 19th

Read Romans 2.1-16

In verses 1-11: God's wrath against religious people.

The language shifts to direct address, from they and them in 1.18-32 to you.

Whoever you are (vv. 1, 3), literally, "O man," is an open-ended charge against religious people who do the very things they condemn in others.

Such people think God's kindness gives them slack rather than reason to change their lives (repentance, v. 4).

Like those whom they condemn (1.18), they too will experience God's wrath and fury (v. 8; see 5.9; 12.9).

Day of wrath, see Zeph 1.14-16; Rev 6.17.

At the final judgment, God will render impartial judgment.

V. 6 quotes Ps 62.12; see Prov 24.12.

Good and evil cut across ethic lines (vv. 9-10).

In verses 12-16: Doing what the law requires.

In verse 12: Experiencing the harsh effects of sin and developing a sense of moral accountability before God do not derive exclusively from the law of Moses.

This is something all people experience, both gentiles who live apart from the law and Jews who live under the law.

In verse 16: The day of judgment, 2 Cor 1.14; Phil 1.6, 10.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 18th

Read Romans 1.18-32
In 1.18-8.39: God's purpose and character revealed in Christ.
In 1.18-32: God's wrath against sinful humanity.
Gentiles are not mentioned specifically in 1.18-32, but they appear to be in view (see 1.30, God haters 2.14; 3.9).
Paul thinks humanity can know God through creation.
Yet rather than honoring God properly as creator, people devised inappropriate forms of worship: images of humans and animals (v.23).
Such worship is misguided because it gives honor to mortal things rather than exclusive honor to the immortal God (v. 23).
Worshiping creatures instead of the Creator is here seen as the ultimate lie.
Closely associated with idol worship were sexual practices regarded by Jews as impure and degrading tot he body (vv. 24-25).
Failure to acknowledge God leads to debased thinking and immoral behavior.
The sins listed in vv. 29-31 mainly describe behavior that destroys meaningful relationships among friends and family, leading to chaos within society (1 Cor 6.10-11;Gal 5.19-21).
Paul repeatedly emphasizes that God gave them up ... (v.24, 26, 28), suggesting God's disgust with such arrogant, socially destructive behavior.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 17th

Read Romans 1.1-17
In 1.1-15: Greeting and prayer of thanksgiving.
In verses 1-7: Greeting.
The writer Paul identifies himself and his mission as they relate to Christ and God.
Grace and peace combine standard forms of gentile and Jewish address.
This greeting is longer than most because Paul is writing to a church he has not yet visited and he wants to align himself with early Christian belief (vv. 2-6).
In verses 8-15 Prayer of Thanksgiving.
Opening thanksgivings in Pauline letter often set the mood for the rest of the letter and signal key themes.
Paul's mission to the Gentiles reflects a central concern of the letter (v. 13).
There is no hint that he will reach Rome as a prisoner, as Acts depicts (Acts 28).
In verses 16-17: Purpose.
These verses, which actually conclude the prayer of thanksgiving, summarize the main themes of the letter.
I am not ashamed means "I have confidence in."
The gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ, tells a story about God's saving activity.
it stems from God and expresses God's power to transform human lives.
It also reveals the righteousness of God, either God's character as one who is reliable and trustworthy or what is given by the God who sets things right.
The proper response to God's action in Christ is faith, which is both the means (through faith) and the end (for faith) of life before God.
The Older testament quotation is a distinctive Pauline rendering based on Hab 2.4.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 16th

Read Exodus 40.34-38.
In 40.34-38: The glory and cloud of God's presence fill the tabernacle.
In verses 34-35: The presence of God in the form of the Lord's "glory" and the "cloud" had "covered" and settled on Mount Sinai in 24.15-18.
The same divine glory and cloud covered and settled upon the tent of meeting and the tabernacle.
In verse 36:Each stage of their journey looks forward to Israel's continuing trek through the wilderness toward the land of Canaan.
The departure from Mount Sinai will actually begin in Num 10.11-36.
In verse 38: On the cloud by day and the fire by night, see comment on 13.21.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 15th

Read Exodus 40.1-33
In 40.1-33: Moses completes the work of erecting the tabernacle and arranging its furnishings.
In verse 2: The establishment of the tabernacle on the first day of the first month marks the beginning  of the rhythms, seasons, and festivals of the new cultic year.
The construction of the universe (Gen 1.1-2.4) had provided order and structure out of chaos that enabled  the beginning of time and of life.
In a similar way, Israel's construction of the tabernacle out of chaos of the golden calf (ch 32) provides order and structure for the beginning of Israel's worship and cultic life as it journeys through the wilderness.
The text again brings together the Tabernacle tradition and the older tradition of the tent of meeting (39.32, 40; 40.6, 22, 24, 29, 35; see comment on 33.7).
In verse 17: Israel has arrived at Mount Sinai in the third month of the first year after going out of Egypt (19.1).
Moses sets up the Tabernacle nine months later in the first month in the second year.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 14th

Read Exodus 39.32-39

No Comments available.

Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 13th

Read Exodus 39.1-31
This section recounts the making of Aaron's priestly vestments or clothing.
The refrain as the Lord had commanded Moses recurs seven times throughout the chapter (vv. 1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31).
This sevenfold refrain mirrors the sevenfold refrain and structure of the seven days of creation in Gen 1.1-2.4.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 12th

Read Exodus 38.1-31
In verse 26: The census and its total count of 603, 550 men reflects the results of the census in Num 1.45-46.
The law concerning payment during the census occurs in 30.12-14.
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 11th

Read Exodus 37.1-29

No comments available.

Comments or Questions

Reading for August 10th

The ark of the covenant, the tabernacle, and its furnishings.
In 36.8-39.43: The construction of the tabernacle and its contents follows closely and methodically the instructions first given in chs. 25-31 with some minor omissions.
The sequence proceeds from first constructing the outside frames and curtains and then moving inward to make the holiest furnishings and objects inside the tabernacle.
This pattern reverses the sequence of the instructions in chs. 25-31, which move from the innermost, holiest furnishings tot he other objects and surroundings.

Read Exodus 36.8-38
Comments or Questions..

Reading for August 9th

Read Exodus 36.1-8
In verses 5-7: Pharaoh's oppressive complaint about the laziness of Israelite slave workers at the beginning of the book (5.4-9) contrasts sharply with Israel's eagerness and enthusiasm in working on the tabernacle here at the end of the book.
Comments or Questions..