ROMANS 14: THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT - A STUDY ON ROMANS 14 PART 3 OF 11

 

Observation tower stairs, Edgar Evins State Park, Tennessee

For those unfamiliar with the program "Through the Bible with Les Feldick," Les taped four 1/2 hour programs each month. He spent 71 programs on Romans. The final four covered Chapters 12-16. Similarly, I heard that at my Bible College, the professor ran out of semester as he got to Chapter 12. 

In the previous installment, I gave a quick overview of the book of Romans, and dealt with four major points of the first eleven chapters. For review, they are:

1. No one is righteous (Rom. 1:18-3:18).
2. Christ paid the penalty of our sins so we can be justified by Him through faith (Rom. 3:19-5:21).
3. As Christ died for our sins and was raised, we should die to our past sinful life and live life in the Spirit (Rom. 6-8).
4. God has cast off Israel due to their unbelief and grafted the church in through faith, but if and when they turn from their unbelief, they will be restored according to the Sovereignty of God (Rom. 9-11).

 Paul starts with practical application at this point in this letter (remember, he didn't divide his letters into chapters and verses any more than we do) with three concepts: 

1. We should present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1).
2. We should not be conformed to the world but renew our minds and think soberly (Rom. 12:2-3).
3. We are one body in Christ, functioning as members through spiritual gifts (Rom. 12:4-8).
   

 You may notice common ground between the two lists I just gave you, but there's a difference: The list of four doctrines are what we believe, and the next three is how we think and act based on that belief. Those three points deal with the following: 

• A checklist of behaviors consistent with the above foundations (Rom. 12:9-21).
• How we are to live as citizens (Rom. 13:1-7).
• Love being seen as how we are to live (Rom. 13:8-10).
• The call to live and walk as being in the light of the Lord, not the darkness of the world (Rom. 13:11-14).

And finally:

• How to watch out for each other and live out our differences (Rom. 14:1-15:7).

This brings us to where I'm going to focus for the next week. Y'all ready?