Remnant: A Daily Verse-by-Verse Devotional

Paul flips the script in chapter 2 by changing the pronoun "them" to "you." He stops talking about the actions of the Gentiles and starts talking about the thoughts of the religious folks, the Jewish people. And he's talking to us, the folks who take their faith seriously, today.

If you're just checking us out or if you dropped off at some point, you can start here with a short explanation of the daily devotional and with a short recap of Chapter 1 of Romans.

Paul ends chapter 1 by explaining that we are doubly to blame for God's wrath, because we feed unrighteousness on earth by not only sinning ourselves, but giving approval to others who sin. We're still approving of sin today. How can we fix that?

Paul finishes his list of ways that we are unrighteous here in verse 31. We talk about how serious sin is, and why we have to acknowledge sin in our lives.

Paul continues his list of ways in which we act unrighteously, including being boastful.

Paul writes in verse 29 that the unrighteous were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, and then lists ways that people are unrighteous. We dig in on the final one listed in verse 29: gossiping. 

This verse has the third of three times where Paul writes that God "gave them up" to some consequence. We talk about what this verse means and why God lets us suffer consequences.

Paul continues to call out one way that the Greco-Romans were dishonoring their bodies. We talk about sin and the best way to handle sin in ourselves and others.

Paul gives an example of what he wrote about in verse 24, how we dishonor our bodies, by writing in verse 26 about one specific way that the Greco-Roman world was dishonoring their bodies. That's what we're talking about today.

Paul gives the second of three "exchanges" in this section, the exchange of truth for a lie. We talk about what truth is and how we trade it for the lies that continue to this day. And we talk about Paul's exuberance for his Creator by throwing in a phrase, "who is blessed forever! Amen." We talk about how we can reflect Paul's exuberance in our lives.

Verse 24 starts with the word "Therefore," which means "consequently." Everything that Paul has been writing about has a consequence, and Paul writes in verse 24 is that the consequence is becoming consumed with our lusts, or over-desires. We talk about the difference between desires and over-desires.

Flowing from the fork-in-the-road verse about choosing between God and futile thinking, Paul gives three "exchanges" we make, and this is the first of those "exchanges." This verse talks about how we exchange God for images of mortal man, and we talk about what that means in today's terms.

A seven-word verse follows the big fork-in-the-road verse we discussed yesterday. Paul cuts down the so-called wise philosophers in the culture at the time. We talk about that.

In the ESV translation, Paul has six verses in a row that start with "For." This is the last of those six verses--the verse they all build to. And this final verse perfectly encapsulates a fork in the road for humans and each of us: honoring God and futility. We talk about that fork and which ones humans have chosen.

Verse 20 picks back up with Paul's contention that the Gentiles should have sought God just from seeing his world, ending by saying that all are without excuse.

After writing that God's wrath comes to all, Paul anticipates an objection by the Gentiles in the church in Rome that they didn't know any better. Paul counters that objection by pointing out that God is plain to all. We talk about what that means.

After writing about the righteousness of God, Paul flips to the unrighteousness of men, which Paul writes draws the wrath of God.

One of the most profound, complex, and debated verses in Romans is verse 17. I do my best to unpack double meanings and talk about how we might meditate on this verse to help us realize that all righteousness we receive in God is for one reason: faith.

There's a reason this verse is underlined in my old NIV bible. Paul packs two big messages into this verse: (1) that the gospel may be offensive to some, but that he is not ashamed of it; and (2) that the power of God for salvation is available to everyone who believes.

Paul ends his section on his longing to visit the church in Rome. To whom is Paul eager to preach the gospel? To everyone, including you.

Paul writes that he is "under obligation" to Greeks and barbarians. Why does Paul use the word "obligation"? We discuss that today.

Paul writes that he wants to be encouraged by the church in Rome, and in this verse he tells the Romans that he wants to enjoy the harvest at the church--to see how it has grown through the word.

Paul writes that he wants to impart some spiritual gift to the church in Rome so that they might be mutually encouraged--meaning Paul hopes to encourage and to be encouraged. We talk about how we might encourage each other today.

Paul tells the church in Rome that he wants to visit them so that he might share some spiritual gift with them so that they might be strengthened. We touch on what spiritual gifts are and we might use them in our lives.

We pick back up with ceaseless prayer in today's devotional by talking about what Charles Spurgeon wrote on what it means to pray without ceasing.