Romans
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Addressing the Jewish believers in his letter to the Roman church, Paul points out that those who claim to uphold the law are often the very ones breaking it. Their over-reliance on the law and the hypocrisy in the way they follow it were causing others to turn away from God. Paul reminds them that if the heart is not aligned with God, then outward symbolic acts like circumcision, which the Jews held onto dearly especially after returning from exile in Babylon, become meaningless and are tantamount to blasphemy. You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by…
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In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul warns believers against judging one another, especially new believers who are coming into the body of Christ. He reminds them that as humans, we are prone to err and therefore have no basis to stand in judgment over another person. Only God is positioned to judge us, and we will not escape His judgment if we create barriers that keep people from coming to Him through our judgmental attitude. The irony is that sometimes we condemn in others the very same things that we ourselves struggle with in different ways. But…
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Ever since Paul’s life was transformed that night on the road to Road to Damascus, his ministry, by and large, had been among the Gentiles. Just as Peter and the other apostles chose to present the case for Jesus as the Messiah among the Jewish communities, Paul—though a lifelong Pharisee steeped in Jewish rituals— chose a different path. Whether by choice or calling, he devoted himself to traveling to distant regions and islands, proclaiming the good news and the hope that comes with it. Although he was well known—perhaps even infamous—among the Gentile followers, he remained relatively unknown among the…
The Jordan Valley 