Romans 1:1-17
Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
Rom. 1:1 From: Sha’ul, a slave of the Messiah Yeshua, an emissary because I was called and set apart for the Good News of God.
Sha'ul (Paul) referred to himself as a slave, or servant of the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). This means that he served the Messiah. A slave is someone who is bought with a price. Yeshua bought us with a price. He paid the price by sacrificing Himself on the cross to redeem us of our sins. He took us out of bondage (our sin) that we may no longer be slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness through Him. It was by His blood that we are bought, and if we have been washed clean by His blood, then we too are slaves of the Messiah Yeshua.
Just as Sha'ul was called and set apart for the Good News of God, we too are called and set apart for the Good News of God. The Good News is that He is Salvation. We have received salvation through Jesus Christ. So therefore we must act in servitude to Him, and do as He commands. His command is that we go unto all the world and preach the gospel. We are called to make disciples of men. We are to pronounce that the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ) is Lord, and that He came to set the captive free!
Just as Sha'ul was called and set apart for the Good News of God, we too are called and set apart for the Good News of God. The Good News is that He is Salvation. We have received salvation through Jesus Christ. So therefore we must act in servitude to Him, and do as He commands. His command is that we go unto all the world and preach the gospel. We are called to make disciples of men. We are to pronounce that the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ) is Lord, and that He came to set the captive free!
Rom. 2:2-5 God promised this Good News in advance through his prophets in the Tanakh. 3 It concerns his Son — he is descended from David physically; 4 he was powerfully demonstrated to be Son of God spiritually, set apart by his having been resurrected from the dead; he is Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and were given the work of being an emissary on his behalf promoting trust-grounded obedience among all the Gentiles, 6 including you, who have been called by Yeshua the Messiah.
To those who have accepted the Messiah as Lord and Savior, we too become emissaries, just as Sha'ul was an emissary for the Lord. This means that we, as born again believers, are representatives of Christ who is the Ambassador. We must carry out this mission, as slaves to Him, to spread the Gospel (Good News) of Yeshua. If you have come to trust in the Lord, and have put your faith in Him, then you are called out for a purpose. As Christ is the Ambassador, we are to carry out His orders. Through Yeshua, we have received grace, and just as Paul states: We, as emissaries on His behalf, must carry out His message: That He is Salvation! We must, in our obedience to Him, promote to others this same faith/trust.
Romans 2:7 To: All those in Rome whom God loves, who have been called, who have been set apart for him:
Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
Sha'ul presents the Good News to Rome, as we see here. This message is not just for Rome though. The Good News is for all to hear, and to all who receive Him. We have been called, and set apart for His purpose.
A blessing Sha'ul gives to the people of Rome: "Grace to you and shalom (peace) from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah." I also pray this blessing to you all, grace and peace from God. Amen.
Romans 1:8-15 First, I thank my God through Yeshua the Messiah for all of you, because the report of your trust is spreading throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit by spreading the Good News about his Son, is my witness that I regularly remember you 10 in my prayers; and I always pray that somehow, now or in the future, I might, by God’s will, succeed in coming to visit you. 11 For I long to see you, so that I might share with you some spiritual gift that can make you stronger — 12 or, to put it another way, so that by my being with you, we might, through the faith we share, encourage one another. 13 Brothers, I want you to know that although I have been prevented from visiting you until now, I have often planned to do so, in order that I might have some fruit among you, just as I have among the other Gentiles. 14 I owe a debt to both civilized Greeks and uncivilized people, to both the educated and the ignorant; 15 therefore I am eager to proclaim the Good News also to you who live in Rome.
Our own faith and trust in Yeshua will serve as a good witness to those around us. We put our trust in the Messiah when we accepted Him as our Savior. Though do not let our faith die there. Yeshua is the Author and the Finisher of our faith, and He will finish the work that He started in You. Throughout life, as a born again believer, we will be put under many trials. These trials will be the testings of our faith. How we handle these situations will make all the difference, and people will notice how we react as well. Do we crumble under pressure? Or do they see the faith that strengthens us to endure through the trials of life?
Therefore we must proclaim the Good News of Yeshua, our Lord and Savior. We must serve Him with all diligence and vivacity, to make known the good name of Yeshua (Jesus Christ). One day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, that He is Lord. The question is, will they have come to repentance before the judgment? Or were they like the rich man who was tormented in Sheol who confessed and it was too late? So we must proclaim His Name, that He is God, and that He brings Salvation to the world. Let us be servants of Christ, proclaiming the Good News of salvation! Let us proclaim His Name! Glory to God, our Rock and our Redeemer! Our trust in Him will strengthen us, that we may be able to endure through all things, and will give to others encouragement as we should be doing.
Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the Good News, since it is God’s powerful means of bringing salvation to everyone who keeps on trusting, to the Jew especially, but equally to the Gentile. 17 For in it is revealed how God makes people righteous in his sight; and from beginning to end it is through trust — as the Tanakh puts it, “But the person who is righteous will live his life by trust.”
In the Tanakh (Old Testament), in Habakkuk 2:4 it reads:"Look at the proud: he is inwardly not upright;
but the righteous will attain life through trusting faithfulness."
Those who exalt themselves with pride, who generally do so by knowledge, will be considered unrighteous. Many people think that they are justified by knowledge. They belittle others, because they are more superior in knowledge in others. But this is not the way to righteousness. Our righteousness is faith. Putting ourselves in any superiority above others is not true righteousness, but self-righteousness, and God will abase the prideful. But the one who humbles himself, and says "Lord, in You I put my faith in, and not my own...", him, will God consider righteous. It is this righteousness that we are given life. By trusting not in our own righteousness, but in God's righteousness, can we receive life.
Do you trust God? or do you rely on your own self-righteousness to be justified?
So many people fall victim to performing works to try and earn salvation. In the catholic faith, it's sacraments and rituals. In messianic circles, it's torah-keeping. But here's the thing: there is NOTHING, not ONE thing, that we can do to earn our salvation. Salvation is a gift- freely given, all we need to do is ASK and REPENT.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Mike. :)
I was rereading Romans, and this verse jumped out at me:
ReplyDeleteRomans 9:30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Also take a look at these verses:
DeleteRomans 4:11
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,
Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Romans 3:21
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Romans 10:6
But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
Romans 10:2-4
For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Galatians 5:4
You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Psalm 118:22
The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
Isaiah 28:16
Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation,
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
Whoever believes will not act hastily.
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DeleteI was reading Galatians again today, and found more verses to support this belief:
DeleteGalatians 2:14-21 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Yeshua Messiah. So we, too, have put our faith in Messiah Yeshua that we may be justified by faith in Messiah and NOT by the works of the law, because by the works of the law NO ONE will be justified. But if, in seeking to be justified in Messiah, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Messiah promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for YHWH. I have been crucified with Messiahand I no longer live, but Messiah lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of YHWH, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of YHWH, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Messiah died for NOTHING!
Gosh, Galatians is so awesome!! Paul cannot be more clear in this entire letter.
DeleteGalatians 4:24-26 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.
28-31 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son." Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Galatians 5:5 It is for freedom that Messiah has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Messiah will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Messiah; you have fallen away from grace.
For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Messiah Yeshua neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Ephesians 2:13-18 But now in Messiah Yeshua you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,by SETTING ASIDE in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to YHWH through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
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