1 Paul, a servant[a] of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David[b] according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Introduction Before we move forward with interpretation, let’s take a minute to consider the method that we’ll use to conduct our study. To start us off in interpretation, we will be primarily focusing on two questions: 1) Who is God? 2) Who are we? And 3) What has he done for us? We will next shift our attention to the application, answering the question: What are we to do in response? Who is God? Jesus is the Christ, i.e. the “savior.” God is the author of the good news, the Gospel. He also fulfills his promises. He promised the Gospel to his people, and he delivered it. Christ is the son of God, and he is powerful. One of the most comprehensive attributes of God is that he has ultimate power. Jesus is not only our Christ, our savior, but our Lord. We cannot have Christ as a savior, and not our Lord. His presence and commands must be ever-present, and we must be made more and more like him with every passing day. If you do not have Christ as Lord, there is reason to doubt that he is your savior. God is our father. Who are We? We may be called as servants of Christ. We may also be called as his own (vs 6), however, this is not addressed to everyone, but to the church in Rome. Finally, we are all loved by God to an extent, namely by way of his general benevolence toward us, but only those who belong to Christ have been shown God’s special love, his special grace, and the promise of salvation. What has God Done? God is the one who does the calling and the sanctifying. He has “called” and “set apart” Paul for his Gospel. He has also “called” all of those who belong to himself. (vs 6) Those who belong to Him, who are saved, have not called themselves into grace, but have instead been called. He also fulfills his promises. He promised the Gospel to his people, and he delivered it. God has loved us. What are We to Do? We are to be servants of Christ. We are to answer the call of apostleship, of acting—to some extent—on Christ’s behalf. We are to acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord. We are to obey Christ. He saved us in order to bring about this. (vs 5)

NT in a year: Mathew 23:23-39 Today's Scripture: Exodus 34:6-7 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; God is, indeed, a God of love; just as he is a God of wrath. So often God's divine attributes are pitted against each other and looked at as mutually exclusive. This could not be farther from the truth. Here we clearly see the loving and gracious attributes of God listed, but they are immediately followed by the warning: "He does not leave the guilty unpunished. God is a gracious God and has compassion for all of his creatures. Indeed, he has given us the gift of his son, so that all who believe in him should have eternal life. This does not mean that he will ever act unjustly. Punishment still awaits the guilty. God is just in his love, for God's love is just. Application: Here, we are reassured that the guilty will not go unpunished. We understand, based on the testimony of scripture, that we are found guilty in the sight of God for our sins. How then can we escape God's just wrath? Only by believing in his son. If we do this, our guilt is laid on his shoulders, and he takes upon himself the just punishment for our sin. S.D.G. Join us right here, every morning for daily NT reading and commentary. Leave a like if you appreciated this post, and comment to share your thoughts with our community!

NT in One Year: Mathew 21:23-46 31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. Part of the understanding Reformed doctrine is understanding how God's attributes work together and exist in perfection and equality with each other. Sometimes, we see Jesus' love on display. sometimes, we see his knowledge and wisdom, and sometimes, his power and holiness. Here, we have the proverbial fire and brimstone Jesus, preaching his future wrath upon belief and sin in full force. Jesus eases into the discussion with the Chief Priests with a parable, immediately turning the tables and asserting that they are the aggregator of the story, and they are the ones making the fatal error. If it is not harsh enough the unbelief, something the scribes and Chief priest were notorious for, was so prevalent that prostitutes would enter the kingdom of God ahead of them, he goes on to make their destruction clear. "43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”" (Mathew 21:43-44) Daily Application: There are countless times that Jesus puts his love on full display, times when he is merciful and abundantly gracious in conversation. And there are times when his mercy and love coincide with his just anger and wrath, and if not wrath, then a severe warning. Jesus preached and warned about the destruction and wrath that awaits unbelief. Let us heed it, and go out and do the same. Because when the time comes for God's wrath to be poured out, the time for preaching and belief is over. When God's wrath finally falls, it crushes. S.D.G. Join us right here, every morning for daily NT reading and commentary. Leave a like if you appreciated this post, and comment to share your thoughts with our community!