Jesus fulfills the promise to bless the nations in Abraham. He is the true Seed of the Patriarch.
The biblical view of the redemption of humanity begins with the Covenant of Abraham. It included the promise that “all the nations of the Earth would be blessed in him,” and that he would have innumerable descendants. The covenant promises were also for his “seed,” but who is the Patriarch’s “seed” destined to inherit the promises?
Continue readingBelievers are the heirs of Abraham. The future possession of that inheritance is guaranteed by the Gift of the Spirit.
Israel’s possession of Canaan was an earlier stage in God’s redemptive plan, which always envisioned something larger than Israel or a small plot of land in the Middle East. With the arrival of the Messiah and the outpouring of the Spirit, the covenant promises began to find their fulfillment in the true “Seed of Abraham,” and consequently, in his “brethren” and “coheirs.”
Continue readingThe equality of Jews and Gentiles before an impartial and just God is pivotal to Paul’s Gospel. They stand or fall before Him on the same basis.
Paul wrote his Letter to the Romans with two purposes. First, to prepare the ground for his visit to the city and his planned missionary trip to Spain. Secondly, to deal with conflicts between Jewish and Gentile believers. In the Letter, Pual explained his Gospel, and he then discussed the status of the Jewish people and the conflicts troubling the Roman Church.
Continue readingPaul presents his Gospel to the assemblies of Rome, a message about God’s righteousness or wrath for all men, Jews and Gentiles alike.
Paul described the Gospel message in his Letter to the Romans. It was the “power of God for salvation” to all men who accepted it. Due to our sin, two forces are at work in the world, righteousness and wrath. God provides the solution to our plight through Jesus and the announcement of his Good News. His salvation is available to all men and women through the “faithfulness of Jesus Christ.”
Continue readingMen are not justified before God from the works of the Mosaic Law, but rather from the faith of Jesus Christ.
Paul demonstrates that all men have sinned in his letter to the Romans. Jews and Gentiles alike violate God’s revealed will, therefore, no one is justified before Him “from the works of the Law.” Jews have the Mosaic Law but fall short of its requirements. Gentiles have the witness of their conscience yet live and even revel in their sins. If no one is set right before God “from the works of the Law,” how are we reconciled with Him?
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