Well, That's It for Romans

By Matt

Chapter 16 is Paul's greetings, well wishes, and salutations. I suppose I could try and put something together there but it'd probably be just kind of . . . well, contrived. So, I decided I'd wander back to my first post which stated my intended goal for reading Romans and see what I find:

"On one hand there's Jesus saying, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' But on the other hand there's the image of a loving father who wants his children with him. Our initial instinct is to say these two images don't jive and at some point every Christian in his or her walk is going to wrestle with this issue. (Hopefully.)

"So, my goal for now is to read them as a cohesive letter with different topics all lending support to the main argument. Anyways, the main theme of Romans is paid in full or how we are justified with God. I instantly thought back to small group. Coincedence? Let's find out."

So, do I have an answer? Can I conclusively say either way? Heck no. Did I really think I was going to have a conclusive answer? Probably not. Does the answer matter? I'm not sure. I think one thing that was reinforced for me in this study is that we are responsible for one person: ourselves. We can't make up other peoples' minds and we really can't do a whole lot to change their behavior. So I need to be loving and gentle and patient with everyone else and take a harsh look at myself and start asking for God's help to scrub away the dirty spots in my life.

I guess I don't have a conclusive answer yet. Maybe my study of the Gospels will help me get a little closer. If there really even is a conclusive answer in this lifetime :)