Post by mommadee48 on May 20, 2021 13:41:38 GMT -5
GUILT AND FORGIVENESS
In his book "Human Universals, anthropologist Donald Brown", lists more than four hundred behaviors that he considers common across humanity. He includes such things as toys, jokes, dances, and proverbs, wariness of snakes, and tying things with string! Likewise, he believes all cultures have concepts of right and wrong, where generosity is praised, promises are valued, and things like meanness and murder understood to be wrong. We all have a sense of conscience, wherever we're from.
We clearly understand that the Ten Commandments clarify right from wrong. But that didn't mean people always did what was right. The gentiles rebelled against their conscience(RO.1:32) and the Jews broke the Law (Ro.2:17-24), leaving both guilty. But through faith in Jesus, God Jehovah removes the death penalty from all our rule-breaking (Ro. 3:23-26; 6:23).
Since Jehovah God created ALL humans with a sense of right and wrong, each of us will likely feel some guilt over a bad thing we've done or a good thing we failed to do. When WE confess those sins, God wipes away the guilt kike a whiteboard wiped clean. ALL WE have to do is ask HIM- whoever we are, wherever we're from.
Remember: "All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law. and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law."
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law by themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them). This will take place on the day when God judges people's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
INSIGHT:
Rome was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the ancient world, which was evidenced in the makeup of the first-century church comprised of both Jews and gentiles. This diverse audience is reflected in the inclusive way in which Paul chose to open his letter to the believers in Christ there. In chapter 1, he focuses on the spiritual need of the gentiles who, in their rebellion, had spiraled away from God. Then in chapter2, he presents the spiritual need of the Jews who sought to be made righteous by law but never could. Thankfully, Paul prefaces these concerns with the good news. In Romans 1:16 we read, " For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile". Both Jew and gentile are the objects of God's rescuing love.
In his book "Human Universals, anthropologist Donald Brown", lists more than four hundred behaviors that he considers common across humanity. He includes such things as toys, jokes, dances, and proverbs, wariness of snakes, and tying things with string! Likewise, he believes all cultures have concepts of right and wrong, where generosity is praised, promises are valued, and things like meanness and murder understood to be wrong. We all have a sense of conscience, wherever we're from.
We clearly understand that the Ten Commandments clarify right from wrong. But that didn't mean people always did what was right. The gentiles rebelled against their conscience(RO.1:32) and the Jews broke the Law (Ro.2:17-24), leaving both guilty. But through faith in Jesus, God Jehovah removes the death penalty from all our rule-breaking (Ro. 3:23-26; 6:23).
Since Jehovah God created ALL humans with a sense of right and wrong, each of us will likely feel some guilt over a bad thing we've done or a good thing we failed to do. When WE confess those sins, God wipes away the guilt kike a whiteboard wiped clean. ALL WE have to do is ask HIM- whoever we are, wherever we're from.
Remember: "All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law. and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law."
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law by themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them). This will take place on the day when God judges people's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
INSIGHT:
Rome was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the ancient world, which was evidenced in the makeup of the first-century church comprised of both Jews and gentiles. This diverse audience is reflected in the inclusive way in which Paul chose to open his letter to the believers in Christ there. In chapter 1, he focuses on the spiritual need of the gentiles who, in their rebellion, had spiraled away from God. Then in chapter2, he presents the spiritual need of the Jews who sought to be made righteous by law but never could. Thankfully, Paul prefaces these concerns with the good news. In Romans 1:16 we read, " For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile". Both Jew and gentile are the objects of God's rescuing love.