Romans 4 - Abraham Justified by Faith

1-8
- if salvation is a result of work, then it's not a gift, but rather the worker's right
- implication: no one can work hard enough to earn salvation, so salvation has to be given ("gift / grace ")
- david: "blessed are those those transgretion are forgiven whose sin is covered"
- sin has to be punished. period.
- what does is mean to forgive then? sins erased? isn't not fair if sins are not punished?
- the sin still exist and will be punished, but the punishment/consequence are taken care of by JC.
- Was David aware of the concept of salvation, that JC will come to redeem them? Probably not, but he's aware that God is able to nullify sin (doesn't know the mechanism yet)
- IF sins are automatically forgiven when you believe, why do believers still ask for forgiveness? (The Lord's prayer, I John 1:19, James 5:16)

Confession means:
--> agreeing with God that our sin truly is sin, and we're willing to turn from it
--> ensuring that we don't conceal our sin.
--> recognizing our tendency to sin and relying on his power to overcome it

If we don't confess:
--> we're not agreeing with God that our sin truly is sin, and we're not willing to turn from it
--> we're (most likely) concealing our sin.
--> we're not recognizing our tendency to sin and not relying on his power to overcome it

confessing doesn't have any effect on your right of salvation, but it affects your relationship/fellowship with God.

9-12
- Circumcision is only a "seal" / outward-sign of Abraham's faith. God has acknowledged Abraham's faith before he was circumcised.

- What kind of faith do you need to receive salvation? Faith to what? To God. But which part and how far do you need to believe before you're qualified? Is believing God's existence enough?

13-25
There's no law in Abraham's era. When there's no law, there's no transgression, but there's still sin. Abraham was saved through righteousness that comes by his faith.


============= side note ===================
| what's the difference between "holy" and "righteous"?
| "holy" is more like a quality standard
| "righteous" is more like a justice standard
=======================================

Romans 3 -- God faithfulness

1-8

• Is sin ok? No. And no excuse for the sin either. (context, see contradiction, why people may use argument of ch 2.1:God's kindness, patience, tolerance for sinner)
  
• Jews entrusted by word of God so they have more responsibility.

9-20

• (context vs Jews) Function of law (1) not to declare self-righteousness but to point out where we go wrong, conscience of sin.
• Nobody has 100% compliant to the law, so no one is righteous.
• Why do we need to be righteous? --> Not punished, Go to heaven (saved!).
  

21-31
There is righteousness (kebenaran). It's from God.
How? through (our) faith in JC.
Mechanics:

• All have sinned,

• justified freely -- for free, declared not guilty,

• through redemption -- consequence of sin is punishment. To bail out from punishment, there is a price to pay. JC (by sacrificing himself) paid that price for us. It 's done.

• came by JC --By grace, it's available.
• God shows justice -- sin to be punished, standard for salvation is to be righteous.
• (25) How about people who lived before Christ?

(1) Kalo sin dibiarin- ga dihukum, -- ga adil.
(2) Kalo sin tapi di selamatin - ga artinya faith.
jawab: By faith to the coming of Christ, penebusan . Orang dulu ikut ditebus waktu JC mati.
how early? alfons: Eve.
Sampe 26.

-----31- Function of law (2) , stay tuned , chp 6-7.
---------------------
ben thoughts:
Concept:
- sin: offense to (God's) moral law. (m-w)
- sin is always punished.
- punishment for sin is death.
- nobody's sin free i.e nobody's righteous. Everybody is offender of moral law, charged guilty. Without other mechanics, everybody is punished.
- God says, JC is the subs the punishment for us. Justice is enforced.
- Faith to JC is the tix for justification.


27-31
no foundation to boast for observing the law

Romans 2

1-16 We can't judge other people since we're also sinful. "judge" in this context has a negative meaning. (i.e. judging hypocritically / self-righteously, Mat 7:11-5)

Judging has to be based on God's word and with the motive of love. Love here means that we have to give opportunity and support for the person to repent, not just to "shoot them down".

To what extend do we have to tolerate sin? (i.e. what's your attitude toward gays?)


17-29 Only Jew has access to the law (at this point), and they often boast about their knowledge of the law. Jews are criticized in this section because of their self-righteous behavior even though they're also sinful.

Romans 1

1-7 introduction by Paul as an apostle of God.

8-17 Paul's longing to visit Rome. He feels obligated to both Greeks and non-Greeks and the message of salvation belongs to everyone who believes.

18-32 Paul talked about different sinful acts and God's wrath against it.

Romans Strikes Back: A continuation of the study of the book of Romans

Where: Corinth (probably)
By Whom: Paul
To whom: congregation in rome, addressed to believers, including Jews and Gentiles
When: Paul's third missionary journey (57 AD)
Background: Paul sent this letter on his way back to Jerusalem to deliver collection from the gentile congregation for the congregation in Jerusalem. The congregation in Jerusalem was experiencing economic hardship and being persecuted. Paul has never been to Rome, and didn't know much about their problems. He longs to go to Rome, but has not been able to do so.