Politicians and news reporters today seem to believe that if they repeat something often enough that people will begin to believe it. What about the doctrine or theology that we hold? Do we believe what we believe because we have heard it over and over or from more than one source? Or do we believe what we believe because we have examined the Scriptures as did the Bereans in Acts 17:11 and found these things to be true?
As mentioned in last week’s blog, the letter to the Romans is Paul’s most intensely theological letter and yet his eschatology or doctrine of last things is strangely absent. In the five chapters we read this week as in the six chapters we read last week there is disagreement on what Paul is teaching. Don’t be surprised if you find some preconceived understanding you’ve held in the past challenged as you meditate on and study God’s word this week.
One example of controversy we read this week is found in Rom. 7:14-25. The CSB Study Bible says of this passage, “This section is probably the most difficult and controversial passage in the letter to the Romans.”1 The issue is whether this is Paul’s pre-conversion or post-conversion experience. The ESV Study Bible has a treatment of this section that almost equals a major commentary discussion. A more succinct discussion in another Study Bible reads:
This passage shows up to some degree the problem in our reading of only short sections and stopping at the end of chapters. Reading chapter 7 without reading chapters 6 and 8 would cause us to fail to see the controversy. Will what we learn in the ‘So What’ section that follows chapter 11 of the letter help resolve this controversy? Will our own personal experiences color how we understand the text? One basic Bible study method that may help you come to your own conclusion is to look up all the cross references given for this section in your reference Bible paying particular attention to Paul’s writings. For example, I noticed a cross reference in a CSB reference Bible on verse 14 referring to Rom. 6:6 which was not mentioned in the discussion above. They also had a reference in this verse to Gal. 5:17. If you think Bible study is difficult you would be correct, but it is always worth the effort.
1Blum, Edwin A. 2017. “Romans.” In CSB Study Bible: Notes, edited by Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax, 1792. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
2Moo, Douglas J. 2018. “The Letters and Revelation.” In NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, edited by D. A. Carson, 2032. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
As mentioned in last week’s blog, the letter to the Romans is Paul’s most intensely theological letter and yet his eschatology or doctrine of last things is strangely absent. In the five chapters we read this week as in the six chapters we read last week there is disagreement on what Paul is teaching. Don’t be surprised if you find some preconceived understanding you’ve held in the past challenged as you meditate on and study God’s word this week.
One example of controversy we read this week is found in Rom. 7:14-25. The CSB Study Bible says of this passage, “This section is probably the most difficult and controversial passage in the letter to the Romans.”1 The issue is whether this is Paul’s pre-conversion or post-conversion experience. The ESV Study Bible has a treatment of this section that almost equals a major commentary discussion. A more succinct discussion in another Study Bible reads:
The spiritual status of the person whom Paul describes in these verses is debated. Noting that Paul apparently refers to himself using the present tense (“I am,” “I do,” “I want,” etc.) and that the person “delight[s] in God’s law” (v. 22), many interpreters think Paul is describing his own experience as a Christian. Others, however, think that Paul is describing his past experience as a Jew under the law. They point to language that appears to contradict what Paul says in Romans about Christians: “sold as a slave to sin” (v. 14) versus “set free from sin” (6:18, 22); “a prisoner of the law of sin” (7:23) versus “free from the law of sin” (8:2). Whatever specific situation Paul has in view, his teaching in this passage stands: humans are unable to obey God’s law and cannot therefore find salvation through it.2
This passage shows up to some degree the problem in our reading of only short sections and stopping at the end of chapters. Reading chapter 7 without reading chapters 6 and 8 would cause us to fail to see the controversy. Will what we learn in the ‘So What’ section that follows chapter 11 of the letter help resolve this controversy? Will our own personal experiences color how we understand the text? One basic Bible study method that may help you come to your own conclusion is to look up all the cross references given for this section in your reference Bible paying particular attention to Paul’s writings. For example, I noticed a cross reference in a CSB reference Bible on verse 14 referring to Rom. 6:6 which was not mentioned in the discussion above. They also had a reference in this verse to Gal. 5:17. If you think Bible study is difficult you would be correct, but it is always worth the effort.
1Blum, Edwin A. 2017. “Romans.” In CSB Study Bible: Notes, edited by Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax, 1792. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
2Moo, Douglas J. 2018. “The Letters and Revelation.” In NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, edited by D. A. Carson, 2032. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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