Monday: Read Romans 13:1-7 The key to understanding Rom 13:1-7 is that Paul was demanding that they pay their taxes. That this is context is quite apparent from 13:6-7. The problem appears to have been that some in the church (maybe the oppressed Jewish members—remember they were kicked out of Rome in the late 40’s by the emperor Claudius—who were disgruntled with Rome) refused to pay taxes. Also, note that Roman taxation could be oppressive for those who did not... Read more
In my last post, I concluded by saying that “If we tell their stories, maybe then the world will listen.” To tell the stories of what life is like for the Palestinians is to speak about the realities of being governed by a system of military law, the relative lack of civil rights, and the somewhat systematic efforts to oppress them. In 2010, I was leading a group to Israel/Palestine as part of an educational tour. I had arranged ahead of... Read more
Monday: Read Romans 11:1-24 Paul is continuing the focus on God’s faithfulness to His covenant. The question has been: How can God be faithful when Israel has not responded to its Messiah? The problem is made even worse when we recognize that the Jews have rejected Christ, but many Gentiles are coming to faith in Christ. Paul begins his summary-response by noting God has certainly not forgotten His promise to the Jewish people (the Greek is very emphatic “me genoito”... Read more
You have probably heard the legend that if you put a frog in cold water and slowly turn up the heat it will boil to death (which is not true btw). Well, that is what is being done to the Palestinians. It’s a land grab To understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict better we must recognize that at its core it is a struggle for land. There is the Jewish desire to have a homeland in which they can make their own... Read more
Monday: Read Romans 8:1-17 Well, we have entered the heart of the book of Romans, the heart of Paul’s theology, and the heart of the NT. Romans 7 ended with the crisis that was the story of Israel and the question, “who will set me free?” (7:24: “me,” of course, refers to the nation of Israel). Paul’s answer is that it is the Spirit (8:11). God has now done in Christ what the Law was not able to do! He... Read more
This is my 6th post with regard to the present status in Israel-Palestine. And you might be thinking, “Okay, Rob we get the message. The conflict in present situation is not good. But can we move on?” Nope. It’s like the preacher who preached the same sermon the first three weeks at his new church. Finally one of the elders came to him, certainly questioning the decision to hire this man, and asked, “Do you have anything else you could... Read more
Monday: Read Rom 4:1-25 Paul’s argument in Romans centers on the fact that God was faithful to His promises to Abraham through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ—by His death! (3:21-25). Paul’s argument is steeped in creation. In Romans 1, he points out that God created humanity to reflect his image and glory to the creation. But instead of reflecting God’s glory, humanity chose to reflect its own image. Paul notes in Romans 2 that the chosen people of God were... Read more
Power and peace There is no question that the President of the US and the Congress are hamstrung when it comes to providing a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is also no question that they have (or had) the power to impose a solution. The problem is that power and politics demand that the status quo remains the status quo. I have personally attended several Congressional dinners where congressperson after congressperson (Republicans and Democrats) explained their predicament. They... Read more
Monday: Read Romans 1:1-17 Well, you may be excited to get into a book as rich as the book of Romans. Or you may be intimidated. Or you may be concerned that the theology of Romans will bore you or go over your head. I suppose all are legitimate emotions. Romans is perhaps the richest of all Paul’s writings. In order to understand it well, we will likely need to purge ourselves from what we have been taught. Simply put,... Read more
I typically do not like to address a topic unless I have a certain level of understanding of it and of the various sides in the debate. This, then, means that I am woefully ill-equipped to address the present topic. Yet, I suspect that the topic itself, though I am sure it is immensely complex, is relatively straightforward. As it now stands, basic healthcare is only available to certain individuals. I do not know the statistics. But I suspect that... Read more
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