News of the Day

I had a haircut.

and i am not terribly enamoured with it.

hey enamoured... en amour ed... in love.... FRENCH. :) love these little moments of revelation.

anyway so yes. that wasn't great. what WAS great... was spending some time with a few of my besties from school... bit of reminiscing at the whistlestop... and a lovely meal at the ness in Shaldon for Merge's birthday. We are all twenty now so it feels a bit like an episode of loose women when we meet up... although hopefully with less of the inappropriateness... :S


Moving on from that. I've started this commentary on Romans by Stuart Olyott... it's called "The Gospel as it really is" from the Welwyn commentaries series, and it's really good! He has a real talent for explaining pasages that seem really tricky... and just making them so clear so you come away thinking... "oh yeah! obviously!"

So I've heard before that Romans is like an overview of the Gospel... with a bit more detail kind of thing... but never realy been able to see it for myself I don't think. But it really is! Here's how Stuart breaks it down:

1 v 1-17 - Who? What? Why?
Describes this passage as the introduction to the book. Where Paul introduces his topic of the Gospel, and why he thinks it is so important: v16 "For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes."

1 v 18-32 - Human sin and the wrath of God
Outlines what we have done wrong, and how we all justly face God's punishment

2 v 1-16 - The Judgement
Everyone will face the judgement and it will be according to the law, which shows
us our sin.

2 v 17-29 - "It could never happen to me"
The error of thinking yourself good enough for God either in terms of works and
earning favour with God, or by trusting in signs and heritage... for the Jews at the
time.. circumcision. There is nothing we can rely on to save ourselves from God's
judgement.

3 v 1-20 - Some objections and a verdict
Paul argues against potential objections such as 'what is the point of being a Jew
then?' (v1-4) and 'how is it fair for God to punish my sin, when it makes him look
more faithful for still loving me in it?" (vs5-8) [as an aside... how twisted are our
minds to try and justify our sin like that?!] His conclusion is that we can have real
advantages to knowing God. e.g. being a Jew and knowing the law, or today, being
brought up in a Christian home and attending church regularly, but they are only an
advantage, not the means by which we are saved.

3 v 21-31 - The one way of salvation revealed in the Gospel
Paul explains the only way to be made right with God, is by having righteousness
credited to you by God, as a gift, through faith in Jesus. The implications of which are
that there is no room for self-congratulation... we have nothing to do with it... it is a
GIFT of God, and that God is the God of both Jews and Gentiles. It is about faith, not
outward signs and advantages of circumcision and the law.

4 v 1-25 - An Old Testament example of Justification by faith
Paul uses the example of Abraham to prove that God has not changed, and that he
didn't used to justify people by works. In v 3 he quotes Genesis 15:6 "Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness", and how this happened
BEFORE circumcision started so that couldn't have had any bearing on it either. This
means that the promise of justification, again, does not only apply to the circumcised
jews, but to the uncircumcised gentiles... as long as they show the same faith that
abraham did.

And thats where I'm up to so far. it's pretty neat. :) I'm looking forward to Chapters 6-8 which I heard Stuart Olyott preach on at the aber conference a few years ago and it was brilliant. I'll update again when I've done that I reckon. :D


To finish... I've been listening to this song alot... it's a bit cheesy, but it's actually got really quite nice lyrics, and a cute video, annnnnd its mega catchy.. i like this girl :)