Dig into Romans with Me (Week 14-Romans 5:12-21)

The heading for these verses are worded differently in various Bible translations: “Adam and Christ Contrasted;” “The Death-Dealing Sin, The Life-Giving Gift;” and “The Gift of Grace Greater than Sin.” But the message is the same: Grace Wins Over Sin Every Time! 12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death… Read More

Kathie’s Roman Digs (Week 13-Romans 5:1-11)

We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. Romans 5:2, MSG Now that… Read More

Kathie’s Roman Digs (Week 12–Romans 4:13-25)

Verses 22-24 in The Message transliteration summarize the thrust of this chapter, and to make meaningful, I personalized it. Read these verses out loud with your name. This is the truth of the gospel living in us through faith. I didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. I plunged into the promise and… Read More

Dig into Romans with Me (Week 12: Romans 4:13-25)

The main questions in this section of Romans 4 are: What is God’s promise to us? In what way is Abraham to be an example for us? Where is your focus for the big picture and the day-to-day details? 13 Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not… Read More

Kathie's Roman Digs (Week 11-Romans 4:1-12)

Verse 5 in The Message is a good summary: But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right… Read More

Dig into Romans With Me (Week 11: Romans 4:1-12)

1-3 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What… Read More