Into the Heart of Romans
A Deep Dive into Paul’s Greatest Letter
If God is for Us (2|3)
Pages 185-192
Romans 3:22-26 (NIV) This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood, to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:13-19 (NIV) But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if, in fact, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
John 8:1-11 (NIV) Then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn, he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Paul asks, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”, but makes clear that “us” refers to those being shaped into the image of Christ. How does this understanding challenge superficial uses of the verse, and what does it mean in practical terms to trust that opposition cannot overpower God’s purposes for those who are in Christ?
Paul writes that the God who “did not spare His own Son” will “graciously give us all things”, not merely rescue from sin or a ticket to heaven, but participation in the Messiah’s inheritance: “the renewed creation itself”. How does the scope of “all things” shape your understanding of salvation, hope, and what it means to share in Jesus’ rule over a healed world? Where/how does this promised inheritance challenge narrow or individualistic views of the Christian life (ie, prosperity gospel)?
How does the story of Jesus protecting the woman accused of adultery in John 8 illuminate Paul’s claim that no one can ultimately condemn those who are in Him?
N.T. Wright says (bottom of page 190), “Jesus is the great high priest, providing with his shed blood the ultimate purification that enables God to dwell with His people. Jesus is himself the great sacrifice, the sin-offering, the guarantee of our union with God through his Spirit. Jesus is the ultimate priestly intercessor.”
Which of these aspects of Jesus’ work most strengthens your sense of assurance right now, and why?Paul and the early Christians saw heaven and earth not as distant realms, but as overlapping spaces, where Jesus now reigns with all authority. Where do you see signs (however small) that heaven and earth are meant to meet through the lives of Jesus’ people today?