From Teri Rowe

I was able to listen to a recording of Sunday's class. I am pondering question 5 because it wasn't addressed in class.
Q 5: Is justification by faith unconditional? If not, what does it mean to be justified "freely?"

No, I don't believe justification by faith is unconditional. Vs 31 (NIV) says, "Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather we uphold the law." So the condition is we are still accountable to uphold the law. You cannot have one (faith) without the other (the law).
Being justified "freely" to me means that we did not have to physically do anything to be justified, or declared innocent, by God. It was given to us freely by God. We don't have to sacrifice something, or ourselves, or our children, in order to be justified. That was already done for us through Christ. Also, we have free will to accept the gift given to us, it's not forced upon us. It's ours to take or not. Now that I'm thinking about all of this I think this was discussed by Mark and maybe it wasn't obvious that it was question 5. :) Such an awesome class!

From Jenny Kreil

I thought yesterday's class was outstanding! I had never heard that the word propitiation is the same word used for the mercy seat in the Old Testament. The imagery of blood covering the Law is profound and powerful. I love those moments when I'm struck by the complexity and simplicity of God's plan.

From Teri Rowe

I was thinking about the "boasting in the Law" question after this morning's discussion. If I understand the question right I feel one of the problems of a Jew "boasting in the Law" is that an imperfect Jew puts himself on the same level as God, the perfect, sinless, creator of the law. It also takes away their accountability for their sins if and if we do the same today it takes away our accountability for our sins. God is perfect and we are not. Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

From Mark Kercheville

Hello, class.

As you study this week, I want you all to carefully look at 2:9-13 in comparison with 3:10-18 with the view of reconciling both these passages together. In order to fully understand Paul's point in chapter 2, what does he mean when he says "glory and honor and peace to every man who does good" in 2:10 and later in 3:12 he says "there is none who does good." It may help you to remember that Paul speaks from the point of view of the Jew in chapter 2. Also, as you read and study chapter 2, read again chapter 1 with chapter 2 to help you get the sense of his words. May God bless you with wisdom in your study.

Love, Mark

From Lee Scott

Hello Canyon Classmates.

Years ago I took the Romans class taught by a great brother from Seattle, Washington, Lowell Williams. In the opening remarks, he made a statement about the importance of learning and understanding this great NT book. I don't remember if he was quoting someone else or if this was an original but he said, "If you get Romans, God - Gets - You."

From Wes Seymour

ok, so i have often pondered .. (yeah i said "often pondered" so wut?) the answer to question 5. as far as vs. 20 goes, it seems to state that all men should know god as "the creator" since the time of creation, because his "invisible" qualities are "clearly seen".??? those qualities being: his eternal power, and divine nature. hmmmm seems like an oxymoron to me.

so a muslim, hindu, heathen, atheist, etc. really have no excuse for either denying his existence or not giving him due credit for his creation. yet many do in some form or another i guess. im pretty sure Muslims believe in god as their creator though i could be wrong and Hindus worship cows or something ... i really dont know. but the verse seems to say that none have any excuse to deny the power of god because the "invisible" writing is "clearly seen" on the wall.

so where my pondering comes in, is around undiscovered north and south America where we find the native people (i.e. Aztecs) worshipping many separate gods from the sun and moon god, to the god of corn etc. and it wasn't until Christianity was introduced to them by the early settlers or pillagers whatever u want to call them, that god came into their picture. had these savage, war hungry, human sacrifice to their gods, type people clearly seen but stubbornly ignored gods invisible qualities of eternal power and divine nature for a simple desire to serve more convenient gods that they could see or touch?

so all that rambling (and btw if any of u are cultural anthropology majors im sure i sound double idiotic) to ask this question:
how were the invisible qualities of eternal power and divine nature so clearly seen in plain to everyone that Paul (or god) would say that its totally inexcusable to believe anything else?

From Mark Kercheville

Hello, Romans class students! I would love to hear your impressions/thoughts/comments after reading the book of Romans in one or two sittings. Here is one of my comments: I am so taken by the universal message that Paul writes in this letter. There is no one anywhere in the world who would not be reached by this great gospel or could ever honestly think that God was not interested in his/her soul.

I have also attached an e-copy of the Romans material and the Introduction if you ever need it.

(Jenny's note: Blogger won't allow attachments. If you would like the copies Mark mentioned, please email me or Mark and we can forward it to you. Sorry.)

Welcome!

Hi Canyon family! Welcome to the blog developed for Mark Kercheville's Romans class. Please check back often and join in the discussion.

There are two ways to leave your thoughts on this blog:

If it is a new thought for us to discuss, please email the text you want posted to thekreils@yahoo.com. (The Blogger system will only allow the author of the blog to publish new posts. I will not be moderating or editing posts and comments, but simply posting everyone's ideas.)

If you would like to comment on someone else's ideas, simply click the "comment" button at the bottom of the post. A window will pop-up in which Blogger will want you to create a Blogger ID. This is just your email address and a password you create. This will allow you to publish comments on this blog.

Don't forget to read through the entire book of Romans at least once this week. Then specifically read Chapter 1 and answer the questions in the class packet.

Check back soon!