Remnant: A Daily Verse-by-Verse Devotional

Paul starts a paragraph that Grant Osborne called the core paragraph of Romans with the words "But now." After spending around 60 verses convincing the church that they couldn't gain righteousness on their own, Paul introduces the solution: righteousness manifested on the cross.

Paul concludes his first big part of his letter to the church in Rome in verse 20 by crushing what the church in his time viewed as a means of salvation: works. People couldn't work their way into good standing with God in Paul's day, and we can't do it today. We talk about works as a barrier between ourselves and God.

The response to knowing God's law should not be a full-throated defense of our goodness, but a silent mouth that acknowledges that we fall short and need God's grace. I bank on the words of Timothy Keller and John Gerstner to make this point clear.

Paul's final old testament quote to support his contention that we are all under sin states that we have no fear of God in our eyes. We talk about the root of the fear of God, and how we should not fear anything else in this world.

Paul goes back to Isaiah to tell the church in Rome that man does not seek the way of peace. We talk more about that Isaiah verse he quotes, what it means to have straight paths, and how your life can result in divine appointments if you seek God's way.

We start with a little fun (to me, at least) -- reading some other new testament 3:16s. And then we talk about how the human experience is just one big highway to ruin and misery. Why? Because we weren't made for the things of this world. We were made for a relationship.

Paul switches from mouth, lips, tongue verses to action verses, quoting Isaiah in saying that humanity's feet are swift to evil. We carry on with the sheep herd metaphor I started the other day by talking about bison and water buffalo. Listen to try to make sense of my animal metaphors.

Paul gives us another verse about the power of our mouths, citing to Psalm 10:7 by lamenting those whose mouths are full of curses. We talk about the power of our mouths and the power of curses, and our choice between the two.

Paul cites to two verses from the Psalms to further his point that we are all under sin by talking about how we use our throat, tongue, and lips. While the Word is God-breathing, our words can be like open graves. 

Paul writes that all have turned aside. We compare that to Isaiah's Fourth Servant Song, and compare our inclinations to those of sheep.

Paul continues to anchor his argument in pearls of wisdom from the Old Testament by citing Psalm 14:2 for the fact that none of us understand--we don't understand the magnitude of God's power and love. 

Paul grounds his argument that all of us are under sin with a string of pearls from the Old Testament. He begins with what commentators believe to be a legal argument: that none of us have righteous standing before God. 

What started in 1:18 is being concluded in 3:9-20. Verse 9 starts Paul's conclusion by stating that all of us are "under sin." We talk about what it means to be under sin.

Paul finishes his logic pretzel section with the logical conclusion that was being made by his opponents at the time: a claim that Paul's theology essentially promoted evil. We talk about that claim and the tribulation Paul faced, and that we face today.

Paul asks another pretzel-logic question in verse seven, asking if God gets glory by forgiving our sin, shouldn't we go about the world sinning, to magnify God's glory? The answer comes in verse eight, but we spoil that by talking about how we best glorify God.

Paul answers the logic pretzel questions in verse five with an emphatic "no," and says that if that were true, God couldn't act as judge. We talk about how a righteous God must exercise judgment when faced with evil.

Paul starts anticipating his words will be warped by the more argumentative members of the church in Rome, so he twists his logic into a pretzel in verse five so he can answer potential concerns. But today we mainly talk about repentance and its importance.

Paul answers the questions from verse three with the strongest words he knows for "no." God is forever faithful. But he's justified in judging a faithless people, and he cites a well-known psalm for support in that. We talk about that psalm and how we cleanse our hearts.

Paul asks another couple of questions that the readers in Rome are likely asking. Does human unfaithfulness nullify or render powerless God's promise to be faithful to his people? 

Paul answers his question from verse one by telling the Jewish members of the church in Rome that they're at a huge advantage: they were entrusted with the Word of God, or the Oracles of God. We talk about the Word as God-Breathing in the here and now.

One of Paul's strengths is anticipating objections and questions from various audiences receiving his letters, and Paul shows that strength here in the start of Chapter 3 by answering the question of the Jewish readers in Rome: aren't we special? We talk about that human need to feel special.

New? Missed the first two chapter? Catch up quickly here, and then join with us to start Romans, Chapter 3.

Paul closes Chapter 2 by writing that outward expressions of faith are meaningless without inward transformation. We talk about how this applies to us today.

Paul continues telling the Jewish members of the church in Rome that their covenant is meaningless if they don't follow God's commands. He does so by saying it doesn't count if they're "merely one outwardly." We talk about how we escape from following Jesus "merely ... outwardly."

Paul tells the Jewish members of the church in Rome that they will be condemned by the Pagans if they do not keep the law. We talk about condemnation and what our role in condemnation is.