Micah Tillman

^{[ Romans 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6: Intro, 1-5, 6-11, 12-14, 15-18 ]}

Paul has created some problems for himself with the end of chapter 5.

There, he said that the Law actually led people to sin more — in that people responded to it with rebellion – but that God “responded” in turn with grace in more-than-sufficient amounts.  (In other words, no matter how evil people got in rebelling against the Law, God had enough grace to fix things.)

Now Paul finds himself in exactly the same position Jesus was in.  He seems to be saying that the Law is a bad thing, or at least that we need to leave it behind.

So, just like Jesus did (Matthew 5:21-48) in the Sermon on the Mount, Paul takes some time (chapters 6-8) to argue that what he’s arguing doesn’t amount to a promotion of lawlessness.  Paul, following Jesus, argues that a proper understanding of the Law should lead us to take things to a new level, rather than to simply discard or reject the Law.

At the beginning and end of this three-chapter digression, however, Paul adds a new and powerful argument to his on-going case that his listeners should live in unity, regardless of ethnicity: They have all been united to Christ, and therefore are children of God.

And if you’re united with Christ, aren’t you all united with each other?  And if you’re children of God, aren’t you all part of the same family? (Ephesians 2:11-22)

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^{[ Romans 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6: Intro, 1-5, 6-11, 12-14, 15-18 ]}

Tags: Paul, Romans, Romans 6