We have come to the final lesson for this quarter, and there are a few closing issues we still need to address. In Romans 14, Paul introduces an important principle: the idea that the strong should bear the infirmities of the weak. This means, in practice, that we should tolerate the quirks and hangups of those who are immature in the faith, and be
We have two lessons remaining in this quarter, and thus it is time for us to begin to wrap up everything we have covered thus far, and to tie up any remaining issues that haven't yet been addressed. This week's lesson covers Romans 12 and 13, which are extremely straightforward when compared with the previous chapters, which were quite theologicall
We have almost reached the end of this current Sabbath School quarterly (Q4 2017): we have three more lessons before the end of the quarter. Because, in this commentary series, I have attempted to tie in various issues affecting Adventist theology to each lesson, I am going to use the remaining lessons to address some of the loose ends, in addition
There are two major topics we need to cover in Romans 9: Predestination and Israel—two topics which have often been a point of debate between Adventists and other Christians. I will begin with predestination. I have spent many years debating the issue of predestination with Calvinists. Those debates often revolve around “predestination” pass
In the previous lesson commentary, we focused on some of the hermeneutical problems we face when attempting to make sense of the first section of Romans 7. This will come in handy when we explore next week's lesson. This week, we are studying Romans 8, which is a response to the second part of chapter 7; thus, we will need to briefly look at that f
This week, we've arrived at Romans 7, and I’d like to begin this article by briefly addressing a number of points that, in my opinion, tend to receive more attention than necessary. Firstly, this is one of the chapters in Romans where Adventists spend a great deal of time attempting to convince other Christians (and each other) that Paul was
When I was around 13 years old, I decided to sit down and read through the book of Romans. Somewhere along the way, I picked up on the fact that the book was somewhat important. I recall cringing all the way through chapters 3, 4, and 5, but breathing a sigh of relief when I finally arrived at chapter 6. Adventists were right, after all; we can't j
Romans 5 can be broken down into three sections: (1) The first five verses complete Paul’s exposition of righteousness by faith which began in chapter 3, (2) verses 6-11 explore the fact that it was God who took the initiative in our salvation, and (3) verses 12-21 address the issue of our sinful inheritance. Therefore, since we have been justified
This week's Sabbath School lesson continues with a study of the fourth chapter of Romans. This chapter is intriguing because it functions as a sort of interlude between chapters 3 and 5—both of which take more of a theological approach to justification and related topics. Chapter 4, by contrast, is more of a case study of justification in practice.
This week’s Sabbath School lesson explores the third chapter of Romans, where the idea of "salvation by grace through faith" is first introduced: But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
