In more recent years, the praise of Romans has continued, “Philip Schaff has said, ‘The Epistle to the Romans is the Epistle of the Epistles, as the Gospel of John is the Gospel of the Gospels’”…“This is in every sense the greatest of the Epistles of Paul, if not the greatest book in the New … Read more
In sports, an all-star team is comprised of the very best players from the various teams. In Christianity, we have our own teams like Calvinists and Arminians. Our version of an all-star team with the best theologians and leaders from various teams and traditions would include Augustine (the father of what we call Calvinism today), … Read more
“These men…have turned the world upside down…” – A mob rioting against Paul (Acts 17:6) For every effect, there is a cause. For a gigantic effect, there is a gigantic cause. One such example happened on July 9, 1958 at 10:15pm. A gigantic earthquake registering a magnitude 7.8 caused a rockslide of roughly 40 million … Read more
Key words have become all the rage in our age of technology. Certain specific words and phrases are used to guide is through information as we seek to make sense of the flood of data that surrounds us. In the Bible, God the Holy Spirit has also chosen some key words for us to make … Read more
At the risk of stating the obvious, the unifying center of the entire Bible is God. The first line of Scripture says, “In the beginning, God”. To understand anyone or anything, we must begin with God. The unifying center of history, theology, the Bible, and our lives is ultimately God. This same principle is true … Read more
The length and theological depth of Romans makes it virtually impossible to find any one singular theme for the entire letter. Since the days of the Protestant Reformation and Martin Luther, many Protestant Bible commentators have emphasized Paul’s theme of justification by faith, which is one of the dominant themes, but likely not the predominant … Read more
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” -Romans 1:16-17 … Read more
In this sermon from Romans 1:8-17, Pastor Mark teaches on the importance of praying, planning, and preaching as well as being unashamed of the Gospel.
“…our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters…There are some things in them that are hard to understand…” – Peter (2 Peter 3:15-16) The Christian churches meeting throughout the city of Rome were the original recipients of Paul’s letter. While many churches … Read more
Paul spent the first part of his life in comfort, ease, and luxury. He enjoyed dual citizenship which allowed him incredible freedom to travel, had a world class education, was a member of the prestigious religious group known as the Pharisees, and was widely respected as a powerful leader who literally killed people in the … Read more
“Put the whole world on one side of the scale and you will see that the soul of Paul outweighs it.” -John Chrysostom (349-407) The Apostle Paul is a towering figure in world history. Martin Luther called him “the wisest man after Christ.”2 Luther went on to say of Paul, “We should rejoice and take … Read more
“you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.” – Galatians 1:13 The first thing we learn about Paul in the Scriptures, is that his pre-conversion name is Saul as he is named after the Old Testament king. Saul is a religious … Read more