Remnant: A Daily Verse-by-Verse Devotional

Paul quickly explains the comparison of Adam to Jesus by contrasting the effects of the two here in verse 15. Paul writes that the free gift is so much greater than the sin of Adam. We talk about that free gift.

Paul packs a lot into verse 14, including noting that Adam's transgression was unlike any other pre-Moses humans because Adam disobeyed a direct command from God. We talk about Adam's transgression and how Adam made a mark on humanity in a way that Jesus would later make a mark.

Paul supports his contention that all sinned by clarifying here in verse 13 that sin was in the world before the law, but that sin wasn't counted against the sinners.

Paul at this point realizes that he has just made a very bold claim: that we are to be so confident in our future judgment that we are to rejoice over it. He explains that confidence in the next ten verses, by examining the entrance of sin into our world through one man, Adam.

Paul concludes this grouping of verses by adding another thing to his tales of justification and reconciliation from prior verses: he adds rejoicing. Not only are we made right in our relationship with God, but we are to even rejoice in it.

Paul restates his point from verse nine here, but changes the word "justified" to "reconciled." We talk about what it means to be reconciled, and how Jesus called on us to be reconciled to those with whom we are at odds.

Paul follow up the famous verse eight with a technique where he compares a weighty thing with a light thing, in order to show that if God chose to die for us before we believed in Him (the weighty thing), how easy must it be to celebrate us at judgment day now that his wrath has been redirected (the light thing).

Paul writes one of the key verses in his letter to Christians in Rome here in verse eight. We focus in on how the verb "shows" is present tense, meaning God continues to show his love for us even today.

Paul inserts a verse here in verse seven about how humans judge morality, and how we might be willing to die for a good person, with the implication being that we would not be willing to die for a person we think of as bad. We talk about our moral code, and how God's love surpasses our humanly morals.

Paul expands on the depth of God's love for us for explaining that he sent Jesus to die not for the greatest of us or the strongest in faith, but for the ungodly.

Paul writes that our hope for judgment day shouldn't put us to shame, and the reason he gives for that is God's love. This is the first of many mentions of love in Paul's letter to the church in Rome, and we celebrate that.

Paul completes his chain in verse 4 by writing that endurance produces character, and character produces hope. We talk about how God uses suffering to mold us into tested people, which drives us to hope in Him.

After writing in verse two that we should rejoice in the glory of God, Paul starts verse three by saying we rejoice in our sufferings. How about that for a transition? We explain why we rejoice in our sufferings.

Paul tees up a series of verses on hope, so we tee up what exactly Paul meant by hope. The greek word that we translate to hope is so much more robust than how we use the word hope, and we talk about what we are to hope in.

Paul starts chapter 5 with a big word: Therefore. All of the things Paul wrote before leads up to this consequence, that through faith in Jesus, we can live in peace with God. We talk about how that differs from the peace of God, but how powerful peace with God truly is.

Paul closes chapter 4 with the central point that all of this righteousness is made accessible to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We talk about what Paul has covered in his first four chapters and where he's heading in the next four.

Paul writes that the same credit that Abraham stored up is available to us. How do we get this credit? How do we go from zero to one in the bank of Heaven? And does God then debit our account when we sin?

Paul shifts to conclude chapter 4 with several critical verses: that the right-standing with God that was credited to Abraham is not just there for Abraham; it's there for us too. How do we live with bold faith?

Paul writes that because Abraham has this genuine, unwavering faith, it was counted to Abraham as righteousness. We talk about genuine, unwavering faith, and we tell a George Muller story as an example.

Paul write that Abraham was fully convinced in the promise of God, even though his human mind initially thought it to be impossible. We talk about living lives of that kind of faith.

Paul writes that no unbelief made Abraham waver in his faith. But we know that Abraham also laughed when God first told him that he would have a son by his 90-year-old wife, Sarah. We talk about how that makes Abraham's faith genuine.

Paul writes that Abraham's faith did not weaken when he thought of how old he was and how old Sarah was, because his faith in God was so strong.

Paul writes that Abraham, when he had lost all earthly hope, had hope in God. We talk about hope.

Paul packs a lot into verse 17. He cites Genesis 17 to say that Abraham was the father of many nations. He notes that Abraham received his promise in the presence of God, in whom Abraham believed. And he praises God for giving life to the dead and creating things out of nothing. We unpack it all.

After presenting his argument for why the law cannot be the basis of the promise realized in the last several verses, Paul now presents the only solution: that faith brings about the promise, and that this promise is given freely.