Romans 6:1–4 slams the door on the lie that grace excuses sin. Paul says— “By no means!” Thus, because of our union with Christ, we have been spiritually baptized (completely transformed) into His death, buried with Him, and raised to newness of life. As a result, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now empowers us to enable us to have victory over sin, death, and the demonic—when we li...  Read More

In Romans 5:12–21, Paul traces humanity’s story through two Adams. Through the first Adam’s, sin entered into the world through his defiance of God’s command causing death to spread to all—contaminating and infection the entire creation. The result is that condemnation became our universal reality. As a result, we all are born into a fallen order—powerless to repair the rupture, unable to cover ou...  Read More

Paul’s “how much more” argument moves from what God has already done to what He will certainly do. If, while we were God’s enemies, we were justified by Christ’s blood and reconciled through His death, how much more will we now be saved from wrath and kept by His risen life. Our standing with God rests not in our goodness but in His finished work and living mediation—meaning the same grace that sa...  Read More

At just the right time, after centuries of divine foreshadowing—the tabernacle sacrifices, Isaac’s near-sacrifice with a substitute, the Passover lamb, and the promises to David—God unveiled His decisive rescue in Jesus. As a result, when we were powerless—dead and bankrupt in our trespasses and sin, Jesus stepped out of heaven and into humanity so the single purpose of dying for the lost and ungo...  Read More

Since we are all sinners and incapable of saving ourselves, God did for us—what we could not do for ourselves... He provided a single, sufficient sacrifice in Jesus to make it possible for our sins to be forgiven and His grace made available to rescue us from the penalty and punishment for sin. Even more, this grace once received has the ability to transform our earthly life as well as our eternal...  Read More

Paul shows us that God’s saving promise rests in faith alone in the grace initiative of God—and therefore guaranteed to all who share Abraham’s faith (v.16). Abraham believed the God who “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (vv.17–18). Though his body was “as good as dead” and Sarah’s womb barren, he grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, “fully convin...  Read More

In Romans 4, Paul continues the argument he began in Romans 3: that no one can earn righteousness through the Law or through moral effort. To prove his point, Paul reaches back to the story of Abraham—the father of the Jewish people and a man revered by both Jews and Gentiles. Abraham was counted righteous before the Law was given and before he was circumcised. How? He simply believed God’s promis...  Read More

Paul’s words in this passage are a turning point in his letter to the Romans. For two chapters he has been building the case that everyone—Jew and Gentile alike—has fallen short of God’s perfect standard. No amount of law-keeping or moral effort can make us righteous in His sight. Then comes the glorious phrase: “But now…” In those two words, the weight of despair begins to lift. Paul announces th...  Read More

After proving in Romans 1:16-3:20 that no one is righteous or deserving of God’s forgiveness—and that the Law can save no one but only expose one’s sin, Paul announced the good news that the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the Law. This righteousness was fully testified by the Law and the Prophets. Thisrighteousness is imputed or bestowed upon (and never earned) through faith in ...  Read More

Paul brings his argument to a sobering verdict—there is no one righteous…not even one. Both Jews and Gentiles alike are subject to the power, pain, and penalty of sin equally – and our minds, motives, mouths, and movements testify against us. Thus, no matter how good we might think we are, we are in fact—NOT! We are all sinners. Even worse, there is no amount of Law keeping that declare us righteo...  Read More

After showing in chapters 1–2 that both Gentiles and Jews stand guilty before a holy God, Paul anticipates the pushback: “So what advantage is there to being a Jew?” He answers—MUCH—because they were entrusted with the very words of God to be the chosen vehicle of grace for the redemption of all humanity. Yet privilege doesn’t equal immunity. As a result, Israel’s failures might have cost them the...  Read More

In this passage, Paul turns to the Jewish believers who were putting their confidence in their ability to keep the Law and in their circumcision as proof of their faith superiority. He says bluntly that outward markers of good effort mean nothing without an inward faith reality. He implies that if a person teaches others to keep the Law while they break the Law, then their faith is lacking blasphe...  Read More