In Chapter 4, Paul headed off accusations of novelty in his gospel or that it was a rejection of God’s covenant with Abraham by insisting that Abraham’s election was itself an act of divine grace that made him right with God (’justified’ him) by faith. Now in chapter five, he returns to his main argument, … Continue reading On Peace and Boasting: Romans 5.1-11
Paul has spent the past two-and-a-half chapters making his case that everyone, both Jews and Gentiles alike, is in the same position before God: in need a salvation that is grounded not in performing the ‘works of the Law’ but a relationship grounded in faith(fulness). But if that’s the case, one might wonder, why would … Continue reading Actually, It’s Been about Faith All Along: Romans 4
In some ways this series on the first eleven chapters of Genesis had its origin in a very bad sermon I was subjected to over twenty years ago, in which the preacher basically told the congregation that we’d all be better off ignoring Genesis 1-11 because God doesn’t become recognizable as the God of the … Continue reading Of Beginnings and Endings: Genesis 11.10-32 and concluding thoughts on Genesis 1-11
Believe it or not, we’re finally in the home stretch of this series on the first eleven chapters of Genesis, which cover what we might call biblical pre-history. Today we have one final story that traffics in mythological or legendary imagery: the story of the Tower of Babel. Integrated Summary While without any direct known … Continue reading A Tower in the Sky: Genesis 11.1-9
In the last post we saw how after the flood, God reaffirms humanity’s creation in the image of God, renews humanity’s original blessing, and establishes a covenant with all living things. But the beauty and hopefulness of that narrative is tinged with a hint of warning, for God does all this despite the fact that … Continue reading Things Fall Apart … Again: Genesis 9.18-10.32
Matthew Root 