November 29th, 20

JOIN THE EXPEDITION

Today’s reading is Romans 1.  We are reading from the New Living Translation.

Paul is taking us on an beautiful, epic, amazing expedition, to the origins of justification by faith.  He’s taking us on a visit to Moses and Abraham.  Paul says that they both point us to the gospel of grace.  Moses and the Prophets show us a way to be made right with God, without keeping the Law, which is completely contrary to what most people thought during his time.  It’s the same today.  So many Christians, even, fail to see that Moses and the Prophets are showing us a way to be made right with God, without keeping the law.  We read Moses and we think that’s exactly what he’s saying:  If you hold up your end, God will keep us his end. And in the end, that’s how you’re justified and made right.  You have to do your part.  

What changed for Paul?  Why did his whole perspective on the law change?  He was a chief law-keeper if there ever was one.  He was a Pharisee of Pharisees.  What changed all that?  Jesus changed it! An  encounter with the person of Christ, changed everything for Paul.  After meeting Jesus he never read the Bible the same again.  Paul began to read the Scripture through the lens of christ.  He realized that Moses and the Prophets were all speaking of, and pointing us to, Christ, the whole time.  

So now Paul is telling us to look at Scripture through the lens of Jesus. Only then do we see that Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses and the Prophets.  Their lives, stories, and teachings are all pointing us to the One that is greater than them, to Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law and the prophecies.  If we read the Scriptures through the lens of Moses we’ll get stuck on Moses.  But Moses is pointing us to Jesus, the one who, alone, has the answer to the righteous demands of the Law.  

When we look at the Word through Christ we see that faith in Christ – his obedience, his sacrifice, his life, his death –  is what makes us right with God.  And it’s not just right standing with God that’s been given to us.   But now, through faith, we’re given power for right living, here and now.  It’s all about him and through him.

On this amazing adventure through Romans, the map, the compass and the binoculars that Paul is giving us might be different than the ones we’ve used before.  The map points us to Christ and no one else.  And the binoculars are going to help us see him like we’ve never seen him before.

Let Christ set you free and make you new on the journey.

You are loved!