The letter so far (Romans 1:1-7:13):
- The Gospel is characterized, once again, as the work of Christ, with no mention of feasts, sacrifices, or laws
- The Law is characterized as holy, just, and good, but its function in the life of people is exclusively to cause judgment, increase both sin and knowledge of sin, and ultimately bring death
- All people are guilty before God, but not all are guilty before the Law of Moses. God judges Israel by the Law, but Gentiles by their conscience, the law within them.
- All people are rebellious, to the point that they know God but suppress that truth in unrighteousness, so that there is no one who seeks God, and there is not even one who does good.
- The Law was brought in from the side, and is not characterized as the foundation of anything related to the Gospel
- The covenant that the Gospel is founded on is the Abrahamic covenant, not the covenant through Moses
- In line with the Abrahamic covenant, in which Abraham was credited with righteousness for believing God, believers in Christ are justified, or made righteous, by faith in Christ, not obedience to the law
- Paul consistently uses the phrase “under the law” to refer to Jews who are living under the Mosaic covenant, as opposed to Gentiles, who are “without law”
- Paul has characterized the death of Christ has having released the Jews from the law, just as the death of a husband releases the wife from her covenant with him
Missing from the letter:
- Any characterization of the Gospel as a continuation of the Law of Moses in any way
- Any characterization of the Law as eternal or preexisting Moses in any way
- Any description of obedience to Christ as including any ritualistic aspects of the Law
Join me tonight 10:30 ET/8:30 Mountain as we dive into some controversial sections of Romans 7 and 8. We may even get into 9. We’ll see.