Unfortunately late last week I pulled a muscle in my back, it is gettin better now, but I was in a lot of pain so I couldn't concentrate when I was preparing for today's Bible Study. I try and get the work completed on Thursday and Friday evenings. It is also the reason I did not broadcast Friday's Dad Stuff show.
So today I will be doing a very abridged version of the study unless we get soem good discussion going on the chat.
So do join me at 1pm eastern today and we'll see how it goes.
Ok I've been very negligent in this part of the reason was I was getting very discouraged that nobody seemed to be commenting on the study posts so i wasn't sure if anybody was really doing this with me.
So I am going to begin it again but I want to do something a little different. I have been experimenting with some live web casts for my business and am thinking of doing a live interactive webcast. I'm on video and participants can type questiosn comments etc and participate in a discussion. I have 3 days available to do this. It would be sometime between 9am and 3pm EST so I have a poll below with options for the days I'm available. I would make it one regular day. I will probably do a test web cast later this week and begin on the regular day next week if I get any interest. The actual web casts will be recorded so you can view afterwards as well and still participate. The ide of the web cast is it makes it interactive. So it can be more of a discussion format.
5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; 7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
More of the introduction, while it might seem tedious to go through a book of the Bible in this manner, it is good to pay attention to every word written because every word is word of God and should be used for our edification. This weeks study should be a little less drawn out though.
Verse 5. Having completed his explaination of the Gospel Paul begins to talk about his divine appointment to the office of Apostle and that in carrying out the office he is obedient to the faith and his work (to proclaim) is to be done amongst all the nations, not limited to the Jews or one race or region. In verses 6 and 7 he states that his reader are also called by Christ, he calsl those called by Christ "Saints" . He addresses his particular Audience who this letetr was first written, the Believers in Rome, and he gives them a greeting, a blessing of sorts. Nothing can be more important or desired by us than Grace and peace, the favour of God and this is what Paul is bringing to the believers in Rome.
By Reading the Book of Romans with an open and discerning mind when I was younger I was led to see that the Roman Catholic church was really no church at all and I needed to get out if I was to truly follow Christ. It was the beginning of my journey to becoming a Christian.
Today the Book of Romans is often not viewed in it's entirety in many Church's because much of the doctrine contained therein contradicts the particular belief of some denominations. This is unfortunate because it clearly sets out the means of Justification, t he act of Adoption by our heavenly Father and the process of Sanctification. It clearly states God's plan for Salvation for his chosen people. I still find much comfort in reading it today an I hope that through this study we will be able to explore it together to open up these great truths it professes.
This weeks Passage: Romans 1:1-4
1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (NKJV)
WOW!!!
This simple introduction has so much meat in it that is often missed at first Glance in it Paul provides an example of Christian Living, Biblical Prophesy and the Authority of Scripture, the complete Gospel Message and even the Trinity.
Romans has so much in to help us have a better understanding of the will of God for our lives, how God works in his eternal plan, God's vision for his church, and the theology of salvation that it should be no surprise that these simple 4 verses contain so much.
What is the Christians Relationship with God?
In the opening verse Paul tells us who he is, what his job is and what state he is in. Paul tells us he is a "Bondservant" The original Greek word that is used here is "doulos" it is sometimes translated as Bondman in 21st Century society we are familiar with the word Slave but Bondservant or Bondman are not words in our common day usage. So let me explain the meaning of these terms of a non Biblical Historical example. Some of my ancestors arrived in Canada in the 1840's escaping the Potatoe Blight in Ireland as Endentured Servants, they were "bondservants" they were poor and could not afford the voyage on thier own so they came this way. What this meant is that they had a debt (to the Captain or owner of the ship) when they arrived somebody paid this debt and they were to serve the payer to pay back the debt, they were in his servitude. This was a common practice especially after the slave trade ended in the British Empire This was not just used in History as a way of paying for ship fare but was often used off for many debts. It was a very common practice.
A couple of basic points about "Bond servitude" the debt was theirs to pay but a benefactor paid it and because they had thier debt paid they had an obligation to serve the one who paid it. Much the same Paul is saying he had a debt that needed to be paid. As we will see later in the study the debt is from his sin and one only has to briefly skim over the Old Testament to see that the payment for sin requires Blood.
So Paul as a Christian is a Bondservant he also says he was called to be an Apostle. Apostles were an office of the Early church only. Apostles are different than any other church office because they were specifcally chosen by Christ in an outward manner. A man might have a calling today to be a minister, elder, deacon, missionary etc. but the calling is a much different one. But I don't want to get into the nature of the office as much but to see that Paul had a specific calling. Likewise we all today have a calling, we might not be called to be chuch leaders but as Christians we have a calling to serve Christ and to as Paul says seperate ourselves to the Gospel.
I want to examine where Paul says this Gospel comes from he says it was promised through the Scriptures and the Prophets. Paul is not only stating the prophesies of the Old Testament were fulfilled by Christ but also that Christ is the Gospel message of the Old Testament. Simply God is unachangeable, his way of salvation is unchangeable. God had ordained Christ to be the way of Salvation since the beginning of time, not just for the New Testament church but for God's Old Testament Church as well. Simply there was not one way of salvation for one historical age and a different one for another.
In Genesis 3 God made a covenant promise to man in regards to overcoming Satan
"14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
This plan was always for Christ to die for our sins and it always was the ONLY way to have your sins forgiven. The Old Testament sacrifices did not restore Israel to God but only pointed towards the one worthy Sacrifice which was to come. Those who had faith and trusted in this were redeemed. Abraham was saved not because he was willing to sacrifice Isaac but because he had faith he trusted in the promises of God that he would be blessed through Isaac, he trusted that God could raise Isaac up again. He witnessed with the Ram that God would send another to be our sacrifice to pay the debt for our transgressions.
Paul states openly and emppahtically that Christ is the "Son of God" and that through the resurection God declared openly that Christ is his Son. Paul not only identifies the 2nd person of the God head but he also identifies and acknowledges the work of the 3rd, the Holy Spirit.
What does this mean for the world?
What does this mean for us as believers?
How can we apply this knowledge to our day to day lives?
In an effort to be more diligent in my blogging I am going to start a weekly Bible Study. As homeschoolers we are often tied to our homes and find it hard to make it out to a Bible study so I am going to start a weekly on-line Bible study her on my Blog. This will only be successful with the participation of as many of my fellow bloggers. Here's how it will work. We will work through a book of the Bible at a time I will post a passage for the week and will begin the discussion by giving a brief overview of the passage and laying out the doctrine or application for one's life contained within. I might give an analogy or an example of putting the text into practice where applicable. I might point out what various theologians have to say about the passage etc. And then the discussion will open up to.
Basic Rules for Discussion
1.The goal of the Bible Study is to explore together God's word to help come to an understanding of the truth contained therein, to that end we should say focused on what the word is saying.
2.We should be looking to edify each other not put another down. Though at times it might be necessary to clear up bad theology or heresy it should be done in the spirit of Christian love towards one another.
3.Not everybody is going to see the same thing in any particular passage, the way we read and understand scripture can very based on circumstances in ones life. i.e. In my own life I have reread passages where I have gotten a completely different application than I did the first time, that is the Holy Spirit working through my circumstances I might need lifting up or edification on different aspects of my life, neither application was wrong. Much the same way I've heard two qualified Ministers whom I both respect and are from the same Denomination and theological distinctive preach a completely different message from the same passage neither was wrong it was just two different perspectives and two different congregations with different spiritual needs they were preaching to.
4.While debate is good for coming to an understanding of scripture lets be gracious and respectful of one another.
5.If you quote a passage please make sure you tell us what Translation you are using
I will be starting next week with the Book of Romans. I have a number of reasons for starting there one is that there are so many truths and good applications for the Christians life contained in it that it is a good place to start, another is it is Book of the Bible that helped to start me on my journey towards being a Christian.
I want as many people as possible to join in so please help me pass this message along, post a link if you could on your Blog, invite your Blogger friends to join in and most of all pray that people will participate and that we will be able to lift one another up in truth.
Let me know you're interested and come back after next Monday
I'm a former resident of Nova Scotia, Canada, I relocated to PEI in 2005. I'm married and have 2 adopted children. I am a Reformed Presbyterian and attend the Free Church of Scotland.
I live in Middleton, Prince Edward Island, where my wife and I homeschool our 2 children. I run an Online Christian Bookstore.
I was raised Roman Catholic, when I was in University I was challenged in my faith over the next few I read Paul's Epistle to the Romans which convicted me enough to know I was on the wrong path, in 1996 I hooked up with Rev. John Shearouse who I had met when I was student and he was part of a student ministry. He had just come back to Halifax, to plant a new Reformed church and I started to attend and made a profession of faith.
I have been very active in Federal, Provincial and Municipal Politics, have managed many campaigns and having run as a provincial candidate in 1998.
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