Romans 7:1-4 – I hadn’t caught this reference to being freed, in this case from the law, through death. It’s inspiring to me to think of what a transformation this is. This participation in Christ’s death changes everything, do we really understand that? I mean, we understand it when someone does physically, right? We know that it’s all different for them now. We get that they’ve crossed over to a new dimension, where everything is changed. The rules are changed, their body is changed, everything. But do we as Christians, we who have died with Jesus, do we really understand the change that God has worked in us? Isn’t that the point Paul is making here to the Romans? They didn’t et it either. What kind of people would we be if we truly understood the radical, awe inspiring transformation that occurs in us when we contact Christ’s blood and participate in His death & resurrection in baptism? We could not blend in. We could not be the same. We should not.
Romans 7:9 – Is Paul here making a comment on his passage from the innocence of childhood to becoming accountable? That seems like a possibility, but I don’t know. Maybe I’m just projecting my own ideas on the verse. I’d love some other thoughts on this.
Romans 7:13-25 – This passage makes my head spin. Paul, you lost me in there somewhere. 😛

Romans 6:1-11 – This is one of my favorite passages of scripture because it gives us insight into the process of salvation. I love knowing how things work, and this tells me, in part, how salvation works. By understanding that, I get a vision of what I should be where I should go and what I should do as a result.
When we are baptized, we die and are raised again, just as Jesus was. We go into the water and are buried in it, just as Jesus was buried in the ground and raised up our of it. Read the passage, that’s exactly what it says in verse 3-4:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:3-4, ESV

But the amazing part, to me anyway, is in verses 5-11. It is this death, our own actual death in baptism, that sets us free from sin. Dead men have no sin, they can sin no more and they can be held responsible no more. They are “set free from sin” as it says in verse 7.
Free.
But, usually, when one dies, their chances are over. Their turn is done, their time is up. That wasn’t true for Jesus, and it is not true for us. We die in baptism and return to life, free from sin and free from death’s dominion. Death is a line we all must cross one day, however, to the Christian, they’ve already crossed that line in baptism. They’ve willingly surrendered their life to God and willingly, under His terms, crossed the line of death.
You know those movies where the bad guy chases the hero. The bad guy has the faster car and more powerful weapons, but somehow the hero stay one step ahead. The chase goes on, over hills, crashing through fences, over rough terrain and through impossible circumstances. They round a bend and the bad guy knows it leads to the drawbridge, and it’s time for the ferry to cross. The bridge will be up, and our hero will be caught. As they near the bridge, the hero floors it in a last ditch attempt, one final hope. The hero jumps his car over the opening drawbridge and the bad guy is trapped on the other side, unable to cross. He can only watch as the hero escapes to freedom.
As I read this passage, I get his kind of chase in my mind. Sin has chased us all our lives, nipping at our heels, just waiting for our death so it can finally catch us and claim its victory. It is persistent, yet patient, for it knows that we will come to the line of death and at that line, it has won. What sin doesn’t expect is for us to floor it and veer suddenly right toward the line, trusting in God’s promise, jumping across to a new life in Christ. There sin stands, at that line of death, unable to cross and touch us and bring us death anymore. For the line we’ve crossed, it cannot. And because we crossed that line willingly, surrendering under God’s terms, we go on living after death, just as Jesus did. We are now free from sin to go on and live for God.
Call me a Church of Christ wacko, but this passage shows baptism to be an amazing, mysterious, powerful and absolutely crucial aspect of Christian life because it is the connection to the blood of Christ, to His death, to His resurrection, to His new life and it’s the portal from slavery to freedom, from death to life.

We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:9-11, ESV

How cool is that? And, more importantly, as the rest of the chapter implores us to think about, if this is true, how should we live then? In sin? No!

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

Romans 6:13, ESV

Romans 4 is a challenging passage, and encouraging too. It’s exciting to see how Abraham’s faith gained him the gift of righteousness from God, just as our faith in Jesus does today. Abraham was the beginning of what would become the Israelite nation. Paul’s point here was that all the law and the history and the prophets began, not with obedience and righteous living worthy of praise from God, but with simple faith and trust in him who “calls into existence the things that do not exist.” (Romans 4:17, ESV) It’s a powerful testimony of God’s amazing love, patience and grace that He has given first to a family based on his faith, then to a nation now to anyone who will call on His name in faith.
While that big picture is encouraging and amazing, I have this feeling that there are many nuances that I’m missing here. Do you ever read a passage and feel that there’s something in it that’s escaping you, that you just aren’t getting? That’s how I felt reading Romans 4 this time through. I’ve felt that before, with the entire book of Hebrews for example, and later on it’s clicked. Some of those passages are now my favorites (I love Hebrews now), perhaps because of all the head scratching that proceeded the ‘aha!’ moment.
Romans 5:2 – If the grace of God is a room we stand in, faith is the doorway we must pass through to get there. Or perhaps more accurately, Jesus is the doorway and our faith in him is our ‘backstage pass’ or ticket to get in. Perhaps that gives us too much credit.
Romans 5:10 – I wonder if ‘reconciled’ and ‘saved’ in this verse mean two different things. I used to think of them both as salvation, in the saved from Hell sense, but now I wonder. For it says “now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” We are saved through His life after we are reconciled. In other words, His death and sacrifice provide reconciliation that enables His life to save us form a world of hurt. For once we are reconciled, we begin to examine His life and emulate it. In doing so, we are saved from the pain of sin and its consequences. Things we would have done before without thought, and would have hurt us and others in the process,, we now run from. In that way, once we are reconciled, we are then saved.
Romans 5:19 – Some see in this verse, and the surrounding passages guilt that was placed upon everyone because of Adam’s sin. But Romans 5:12 says “death spread to all men because all sinned” and that is the context of verse 19. Also, if you look at verse 19 and say that Adam’s sin made everyone guilty, apart from any action on their own, it would be consistent to use the second part of the verse to say that Jesus’ obedience made everyone justified apart from any action on their own. Even those who take the view of original sin and the Calvinist position that we do absolutely nothing in our salvation (it’s all God’s doing, period) would not say that Jesus’ obedience justifies everyone, would they?

Romans 3:20 – Someone asked me recently what the purpose of the OT law (specifically the 10 Commandments) was, Well, here we learn that it was not for justification. God did not give the law to prove how righteous we were. If anything, it was the opposite, he gave the law to show us just how far we are from him.
This is a concept that was always a little hard for me as I read Romans before. It seemed a bit harsh of God to make up laws to prove us failures. But perhaps the law was not something ‘made up’ by God for any purpose, it sprung from who He was. He didn’t ‘make it up’ as we might think but instead simply recorded who He was and how He lived. By doing so, He illuminated the stark difference between He and us.
Romans 3:21-24 – On the surface the it appears that the law is a means to get to know God – God expect you to do this and that and avoid these and those if you would be like Him and follow Him. Instead of leading us to Him, it just becomes quickly clear, however, that we are not capable of following that road.
But wait – God, now that it is plain to all of humanity that we cannot be like him, has given us, not a way to be righteous, but given us righteousness. It’s not that Jesus offers us a way to be Godly he just offers us the Godliness. It’s like those get rich quick schemes “Here’s an easy way to millions!” except that God, thorough our faith in Jesus, just says “Here’s millions!” How cool is that?

Since The Message isn’t really a good study version, I’ve decided to try something different. I’ve heard good things about the ESV, so I’m going to give that a whirl for a while. I will likely change the auto-linking to go to the ESV as well, although the old quotations will stay NIV. Since I’m changing translations again and I had only read the first Chapter of Romans, I figures I ought to just start over. To here we go.
Romans 1:17 – The footnote for verse 17 in the ESV reads “beginning and ending in faith”. I feel as though I forget how faith is the beginning of Christianity. I think of relationships and love, but it all rests on our faith.
Romans 2:1-3 – Being judgmental, like this describes, is not only sinful, but it’s hard. Not hard on the one you’ve judged, although it is that, but hard on yourself. I know, for that’s me. For years, for whatever reason, I’ve looked in judgment on nearly everyone around me. It has become such part of who I am that I scarcely notice it. If you are different or have a different view, even a different preference, you are wrong. I’m not entirely sure where this comes from in me, but it is prevalent. I wonder sometimes if I can escape it. What’s worse is I’ve begun to see how it has hurt me more than it’s hurt those I’ve judged. In many cases, they have no knowledge of what’s in my mind, thankfully. But because this is how I tend to think, it’s how I assume others think as well. So, any words of disappointment, frustration or anger I interpret as criticism of me personally. When my wife has a headache, I feel responsible. If her PC isn’t running right, I feel that I’m to blame. If someone expresses disappointment to me, I feel that it must mean that they think I’m to blame for it. I’ve found that I don’t know how to just hear someone express something negative without taking it personally. I hope that being able to see it will help me overcome it, but It’s hard to see how.
Romans 2:7 – “patience in well-doing”. Not persistence or perseverance but patience. Patience to me implies waiting, not “doing”. Does that mean we keep doing, even while wait on God for the results or the reward?
Romans 2:25-29 – I guess some use this passage to teach that those who are not baptized, but who live the heart of Christianity will still be saved. I do see the parallel here and I think it’s valid. But the point Paul was making here was not that circumcision was trivial or even optional. He was saying that it it not what made one a Jew. It was one’s heart that made one a Jew, circumcision was secondary to that. I think the same can be said of baptism. It is not a dunking that makes one a Christian. It’s a change of heart, repentance, metenoia, that make one a Christian, the baptism is secondary. Not that baptism is trivial or optional for salvation, but it is not what makes a man righteous before God. Jesus said something similar in Luke 11:37-41, did He not? Will the righteous, yet unbaptized be saved? It’s not my place to say for sure, but presuming such a man exists (and he was merely ignorant of the command of baptism, not defiant of it), I would think so. However, knowing as we do that God has promised us forgiveness in baptism, but has not promised anything out side of it, why chance it? This verse does not, as some might like, get us off the hook for teaching what baptism is to a religious world who doesn’t want to hear it, it merely reminds us if it’s proper place. Vital, but secondary.

I’m currently reading from The Message, but the links will be to the NIV.
Romans 1:14 – Well, I think I may have had enough of The Message. Why? Take a look at Romans 1:14 in The Message:

Everyone I meet–it matters little whether they’re mannered or rude, smart or simple–deepens my sense of interdependence and obligation.

The same passage in the NIV says:

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.

The meaning is too different for me. On the NIV I get a sense of importance, seriousness, commitment. In the Message, it’s touchy-feely, everyone teaches me something. In the NIV his obligation leads him to action, in The Message human interactions make him feel more obligated. I know that the NIV isn’t a perfect translation, but it is know to be fairly true to the original Greek. I’m sure the message has a place for some, but not for me.
Romans 1:18-32 – Maybe I spoke too soon. It’s passages like this that bring new life to the verses and make you smile at the imagery. Look at verse 22-23:

They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

That arguable speaks with more force than the NIV. So does 30b-32:

Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care–worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!

So it’s not without merit. I do think I am going to try something else, however. My Bible reading time is a bit of a challenge for me adn reading The Message is too distracting from the text for me. I need to read God’s word and get something out of it, not be distracted by the version I’m reading.

For those of you who’ve noticed that it’s been 6 1/2 months since my last Quiet Time Journal entry and assumed that I’ve been reading regularly without posting, thank you for your faith in me. You’d be wrong, unfortunately, but thanks anyway. (If you really did notice that it had been awhile, drop me a note next time. I could use a little prodding every now and then.) I’m going to get back into it, and I’m going to read from The Message for a bit. I’ve read almost nothing but the NIV for a long time, it’s time for a change. I saw a quote from The Message a while back and was blown away by how it made the passage completely new. The scripture links will probably stay linked to the NIV, though, just because I don’t want to rebuild the whole site to change that. Oh, maybe I will after all, we’ll see.
Psalm 18 is my favorite Psalm. I love the image of God sitting in heaven and a cry for help is heard. I picture God snapping His head up from his newspaper, laptop or from lounging around while the angels feed him grapes and springing to action to save the day.
I was thinking this week during a prayer walk about how I have a hard time seeing God as working (note the lounging around eating grapes image in the past sentence). My mental picture is a man standing with his arms crossed, looking down somewhat disapprovingly. There’s probably a lot wrong with that picture, but the thing that has always bothered me is how hard it is for me to see Him actually working. He just stands there.
Psalm 18 seems like a good place to go to get a new look at God as worker.

A hostile world! I call to GOD,
I cry to God to help me.
From his palace he hears my call;
my cry brings me right into his presence–
a private audience!

Psalm 18:6, The Message

I’ve felt that the world is hostile toward me lately. I’m not sure why, but I’ve felt more like a stranger and alien the past week or two. I also love the image this translation brings of a private audience with God. When we cry out, we have His complete and undivided attention.
Psalm 18:21-22 – After being rescued by God (and with such drama! Lightning! Hail! Thunder! Chaos! Hurricane! Pandemonium!), David recognizes God’s working. Verse 22 in The Message it says “Every day I review the ways he works; I try not to miss a trick.“. I think that maybe I need to look for God’s working everyday. I don’t want to miss a trick either.
I’m not sure about The Message now that I read an entire chapter. I plan on sticking with it for a while, but it has a too-casual, too-trendy feel to it. Some of the intensity of some of the wording is taken away, it seems. Perhaps the New Testament will be better.

OK, it’s been almost a month since I got into my Bible. So much for 2-3 times a week. This has long been one of my weaknesses, and I think I will always have to fight to make time to read my Bible.
Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:15-20, Luke 24:45-53, John 20:30-31, 21:25, Acts 1:6-26
Luke 24:45-9 – “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations” Not “repentance, forgiveness of sins, non-instrumental worship, discipling, evangelism, baptism, proper communion methodology, correct church authority and structure, tithing and proper church attire will be preached to all nations” We’d do well to stick more closely to Jesus’ list. 🙂
John 20:30-31 – This is why we have the Bible, to believe in Jesus.
John 21:25 – Sometimes I wish a few more – a bunch more – of those ‘many other things’ that Jesus did had been written down.
So now I’m done with the Gospels. Any suggestions on where I go next? I really don’t have any idea, I’d love some input if you have it.

Matthew 28:1-15, Mark 16:1-14, Luke 24:1-44, John 20:1-29, 21:1-24
Matthew 28:2-4 – This reads like some sort of fairy tale. I have to remind myself that it was real, it actually happened. This is not just some nice story. It seems so distant, it’s hard to grasp that. I can believe it intellectually, but emotionally it’s hard.
Mark 16:6 – “But go, tell His disciples and Peter …” A distinction that probably stung.
Luke 24:4-8 – The speak of His resurrection from a completely different frame of reference. “He said he was going to rise again, why are you here?” But to the women, and to us, the resurrection was so improbable as to be ridiculous. When told ahead of time, the obvious interpretation of ‘rise’ was ignored because it was outside of possibility. To these ‘men’ it was improbable that the women would be there, looking for Him when He said He would rise.
John 20:2 – It was so ridiculous that they still didn’t get it.
John 20:8-9 – They believed, but they didn’t understand. They believed what, then?
John 20:11-17 – Can you imagine what was going through Mary’s mind? She’s put her faith in this man, she still calls Him ‘Lord’, and now He’s dead. She goes to do her duty, to anoint His body and pay her respects, and He’s gone. After all that’s happened, the body’s gone and she can’t even put an end to it. No closure. Then, thinking she’s turning to the gardener, she turns to find out where He is. But it is Him!
In a movie depiction of this story made by DPI, once Mary sees Jesus and is told to go tell the others, she’s show running with absolute reckless abandon down the rocky hillside. Her clothes and scarves flowing behind her, she runs like a 5 year old child does – looking like she will fall on her face at any minute. As she runs toward them, she’s screaming with Joy “He’s Alive! He’s Alive! He’s Alive!” It’s a phenomenally moving portrayal of that scene, one that I carry with me each time I read it or think about it. It captures the joy of that moment, discovering that the one you had worshiped, had put your faith in has raised from the dead.
Matthew 28:11-15 – Can you imagine being so callous hearted that reports of Jesus’ resurrection are not enough to get you to believe. You believe the reports enough to fabricate a lie to cover them, but not enough to believe in Him.
Luke 24:36-44 – Over and over Jesus appeared to them, yet each time it says they did not believe. Would I have been any different? No, but from this distance it seems a little silly that they didn’t get it.
John 21:18-19 – I wonder if this prophesy haunted Peter? There’s no indication, as you look at Acts, that he was intimidated by it. I can’t imagine always wondering if this is the day they will come and lead me away.

Matthew 27:33-66, Mark 15:23-47, Luke 32:32-56, John 19:18-42
Matthew 27:51-53 – How did those who denied Jesus’ deity explain these happenings? Are there other texts from the day that mention these events?
Mark 15:42-45, Matthew 27:59-60, John 19:38-42 – These were brave men who truly cared for Jesus. I wonder where the 12 were at this time? Did they accompany these men? The women did, at least secretly (Luke 23:55-56).