Paul’s Epistle to the Romans
August 15, 2021
Opening Prayer
Psalm 6
O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—how long?
4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?
6 I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7 My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly
troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a
moment.
Prolegomena
God works through “means” – vehicles, a delivery system.
Means of Grace – Word, Baptism, and Lord’s Supper … and
maybe absolution.
Some accuse Lutherans of “sacramentalism” – worshipping the
sacraments.
It is more correct to say that we have a very high regard for
what God does in the sacraments, so we cherish these moments as gifts from God.
This is also reflected in our worship services.
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Confession and Absolution – which roots in
Baptism.
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Service of the Word – which includes our
confession of faith.
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Service of the Sacrament – The Lord’s Supper
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Three peaks.
This attitude about worship and the sacraments is rooted in
the Scripture’s teaching in places like Romans 6 – dealing specifically with
Baptism.
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Focuses on what God does
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God’s salvation flows into repentance, that is,
changing our thoughts and behaviors – or having them changed – to align with
God’s will, truth, and new logic.
Romans 6:3-4
Do you not know that all of us who have been
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We
were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just
as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life.
Remember: This section begins with a question and answer: Should we keep on sinning so that grace might abound? No way!
v. 3
Do you not know, whoever of us has been baptized into Christ
Jesus, into his death we were baptized?
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What do you receive when you are baptized?
o
Jesus’ death!
o
Explores this more in ch. 7. – marriage and the
widow
v. 4
Not only have we received Jesus’ death, we were buried with
him through baptism into death.
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To what end?
So that just as Christ was raised from death through the
glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.
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What does it look like to walk in newness of
life?
o
Ethical change
o
Faith becomes foundational
§
Everything that is not of faith is sin. Romans
14:23
§
A major emphasis for Luther and the Lutheran
Reformers.
§
It both limits and broadens what we understand
to be righteous acts.
·
Some actions which look righteous to us, are not
so to God.
·
Some actions which seem mundane to us, are holy
to God.
·
We tend to confuse these seeking our own
righteous glory.
o
There is a question of focus here.
§
Does the ethical change evidence faith?
§
Does the faith lead to ethical change?
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