I have observations on Romans I’ll be sharing today.

Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Romans 10:3 (NIV)

Paul talks about his desire for the Israelites to be saved in Romans 10:1-2. In verse 3, Paul points out they are not yet saved because they didn’t recognize what God was doing. Instead, the Israelites followed their righteousness by adding traditions and such to the law.

Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Romans 10:4 (NIV)

There’s a tragic irony revealed in this verse. Because Jesus fulfills the law, those who professed to follow the law should accept him as the Messiah instead of rejecting him. This is why Jesus points out that he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). It’s genuinely quite sad that Jesus was rejected by those who followed the law because, if they followed the law, they would have seen that they only had one more “work” to complete; to believe in the One God sent.

On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Romans 12:20 (NIV)

What does it mean to heap burning coals on someone’s head, as we see here in Romans 12:20?

I see two ways to understand this. The first is that the sin committed will be aggravated, and the sinner will receive just punishment from God because they didn’t respond to the kindness shown. The second is that the kindness shown will lead to the sinner’s repentance (cf. Romans 2:4).

That’s all I have for today. Thanks for stopping by!

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