#the faithfulness of God

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Jews are privileged, but even they have failed

1-4 Is there any advantage then in being one of the chosen people? Does circumcision mean anything? Yes, of course, a great deal in every way. You have only to think of one thing to begin with—it was the Jews to whom God’s messages were entrusted. Some of them were undoubtedly faithless, but what then? Can you imagine that their faithlessness could disturb the faithfulness of God? Of course not! Let us think of God as true, even if every living man be proved a liar. Remember the scripture? ‘That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged’.

5-8 But if our wickedness advertises the goodness of God, do we feel that God is being unfair to punish us in return? (I’m using a human tit-for-tat argument.) Not a bit of it! What sort of a person would God be then to judge the world? It is like saying that if my lying throws into sharp relief the truth of God and, so to speak, enhances his reputation, then why should he repay me by judging me a sinner? Similarly, why not do evil that good may be, by contrast all the more conspicuous and valuable? (As a matter of fact, I am reported as urging this very thing, by some slanderously and others quite seriously! But, of course, such an argument is quite properly condemned.)

9-18 Are we Jews then a march ahead of other men? By no means. For I have shown above that all men from Jews to Greeks are under the condemnation of sin. The scriptures endorse this fact plainly enough. ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one’. ‘Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practised deceit’; ‘the poison of asps is under their lips’, ‘whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness’. ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known’. ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes’.

19-20 We know what the message of the Law is, to those who live under it—that every excuse may die on the lips of him who makes it and no living man may think himself beyond the judgment of God. No man can justify himself before God by a perfect performance of the Law’s demands—indeed it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are.

God’s new plan—righteousness by faith, not through the Law

21-26 But now we are seeing the righteousness of God declared quite apart from the Law (though amply testified to by both Law and Prophets)—it is a righteousness imparted to, and operating in, all who have faith in Jesus Christ. (For there is no distinction to be made anywhere: everyone has sinned, everyone falls short of the beauty of God’s plan.) Under this divine system a man who has faith is now freely acquitted in the eyes of God by his generous dealing in the redemptive act of Jesus Christ. God has appointed him as the means of propitiation, a propitiation accomplished by the shedding of his blood, to be received and made effective in ourselves by faith. God has done this to demonstrate his righteousness both by the wiping out of the sins of the past (the time when he withheld his hand), and by showing in the present time that he is a just God and that he justifies every man who has faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith, not pride of achievement

27-28 What happens now to human pride of achievement? There is no more room for it. Why, because failure to keep the Law has killed it? Not at all, but because the whole matter is now on a different plane—believing instead of achieving. We see now that a man is justified before God by the fact of his faith in God’s appointed Saviour and not by what he has managed to achieve under the Law.

29-30 And God is God of both Jews and Gentiles, let us be quite clear about that! The same God is ready to justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised by faith also.

31 Are we then undermining the Law by this insistence on faith? Not a bit of it! We put the Law in its proper place. — Romans 3 | J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS) The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Cross References: Genesis 8:21; Genesis 18:25; Leviticus 16:10; Deuteronomy 4:8; Deuteronomy 6:4; Job 40:8; Psalm 10:7; Psalm 36:1; Psalm 53:2-3; Psalm 107:42; Psalm 130:7; Psalm 143:2; Psalm 147:20; Proverbs 20:9; Isaiah 59:7; Jeremiah 23:6; Daniel 9:42; Matthew 25:30; Luke 1:80; Luke 20:16; Acts 10:34; Romans 2:17; Romans 6:1; Romans 8:4; Romans 9:19; Romans 10:16; James 2:18; James 3:8; 1 John 1:8

Romans 3: Commentary, Bible Study And Summary

Key Passages in Romans 3

1. The Jews prerogative; 3. which they have not lost; 9. howbeit the law convinces them also of sin; 20. therefore no one is justified by the law; 28. but all, without difference, by faith, only; 31. and yet the law is not abolished.

[kdmiller55]

A Breach of Faith

1 So all Israel was recorded in genealogies, and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith. 2 Now the first to dwell again in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the temple servants. 3 And some of the people of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem:…

[henrosa2]

Prayer 11/02/2024

Numbers 27:7The daughters of Zelophehad speak what is right; you shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among their father’s brothers and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. Any evil written ordinances that have been keeping people away from possessing their inheritance in my ancestry be reversed by the power in the name of Jesus Christ.

[secondbeatsongs]

for anyone too young to know this: watching The Truman Show is a vastly different experience now, compared to how it was before youtube and social media influencers became normal

before it was like, "what a horrifying thing to do to a human being! to take away their autonomy and privacy, all for the sake of profits! to create fake scenarios for them to react to, just to retain viewership! to ruin their happiness just so some corporate entity could harvest money from their very humanity! how could anyone do something so evil?"

and now it's like, "ah, yeah. this is still deeply fucked up, but it's pretty much what every influencer has been doing to their kids for a decade now. probably bad that we've normalized this experience"

[lovelyreny]

[spn2006]

the fact that eric kripke isn't even christian really adds something to the way christianity is depicted on supernatural. because its really not about being christian at all, but about living in america, a country dominated by christianity, and having to decide for yourself how to handle that. faith is huge in supernatural, and the mythology of the show is very bible-centric, but notably, christ is never there. even sam, who starts out revering the angels, who once said he prays every night, doesn't actually call himself a christian or imply that he believes in jesus--the show is steeped in christianity and biblical lore and yet neither sam nor dean are christians. in fact, over and over again the church itself is depicted as a haunted house that sam and dean will only ever enter as strangers, as outsiders. priests, preachers, faith healers, chapels, crypts, etc. are all just iconography that create an intense sense of unease that sam and dean respond to instantly. as a jew, its very relatable. an essential part of living in america when you're not christian is that exact sense of unease, of knowing that the culture of your country has ensured that you'll get knocked over by christianity no matter where you go, that you'll see hundreds of people truly believing they're good people while doing awful things in the name of their god, and you have no choice but to confront that. kripke gets it

[lovechristianity]

[queerism1969]

[secretsoftheuniverse1987]

Thinking about how Dean Winchester was an atheist before he got caught up in the biblical apocalypse because in his mind, the two possible realities were an absent God and a cruel one. Thinking about him learning God was real and he had a Plan for him. Thinking about how that robbed him of his faith that a God wouldn't be capable of such cruelty. Thinking about how quickly he came to put his faith in Cas, despite his distrust of the divine. Thinking about The Man Who Would Be King. Thinking about Dean's only on-screen prayer to God being a plea to "bring him back."

[dailyeffectiveprayer]

Be so confident in God's plan that you don't even get upset anymore when things don't go your way.

[livelaughlaney]

period.

[kdmiller55]

Our Faithful God

1 Benjamin fathered Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, Aharah the third, 2 Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth. 3 And Bela had sons: Addar, Gera, Abihud, 4 Abishua, Naaman, Ahoah, 5 Gera, Shephuphan, and Huram. 6 These are the sons of Ehud (they were heads of fathers’ houses of the inhabitants of Geba, and they were carried into exile to Manahath): 7 Naaman, Ahijah, and Gera, that is,…

[henrosa2]

Prayer 17/11/2023

Psalms 34:10The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Thank You, Lord, for taking away every lack from me and my family and for making us live in the abundance of Your blessings in the name of Jesus Christ.

[kingdomreigns]

Whatever is of God, there is order and truth. Whatever is not of God, there is chaos and confusion.

[alilarew23]

the second you decide something is yours, that’s it. it’s yours. so—with love—stop referring to it as your “desire,” stop seeing it as something outside of you, stop doing anything to try to get it, and—yes, this is a non-negotiable—stop desiring it. it is not a potential anymore. you claimed it. it is in your possession.

[4him-iwrite]