Romans

I have been teaching Romans in 8th grade NT.

I feel like I am getting it like never before. And like, once again, N.T. Wright is on it like a hornet.

I'm going to include here some very vague and malformed personal notes from my thought process.

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The Jews believed that God was bound to saving them from their burden, and that he would do so through the (King) son of David.

The belief could be stated this way: The King will save Israel from the Gentiles.

Why did Jews expect be saved?
---They were the "right" people, God’s people.

How could they tell?
---They had the signs of God’s covenant:
----------Possession of Torah (the "have" the law)
----------Circumcision
----------Diet
----------Calendar

So they expected that when the King came the rescue would include the destruction of the Gentiles.

But Paul says:
---The King, Jesus, will save Israel and Gentiles.

How can God save Gentiles if they are the problem?
---#1 Problem: you believe the lines of right and wrong are marked out by Jewish/Non-Jewish, but they are actually marked out by faith(fullness)/idolatry.

Yes, but the Gentiles are the Idolators!!
---#2 Problem: You are too. So if you call for God to save you, you will call for God to Judge them for idolatry, if you call for God to judge them, he will also have to judge you. You have always relied on his mercy to save you from sin. If he will be merciful, then you must accept his mercy on the Gentiles.

Then how can he save anyone, is God justifying sin?
No he did it by condemning sin in Jesus.

-------MORE LATER-------

Heaven, Earth, Sea

Peter Leithart points out a Heaven/Earth/Waters triple that shows up all over the place.

See creation.

Here is a part of the Psalm reading from my classes today. I noticed this only because of his pointing it out. It is from the famous

Psalm 73: Surely God is Good to Israel // I envied the arrogant

..9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.

..10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.

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I noticed that the ESV doesn't use the "water" phrase. I wonder what this means for the triple. Or what the triple means for the ESV.

Click the Title bar to go to bible gateway and see the whole psalm.

Psalms

I have been surprised this year as I have discovered a great hidden secret. The Psalms.

Everday in my classes we begin by reading an octet from Ps 119 (section Aleph, section Beth...etc), and then reading a portion or whole of another psalm. We are just moving straight through the psalms in Sequence. We have finished Ps 119 maybe four times this year.

I have learned a LOT from this exercise. Not only have I learned, but I have been moved and changed by the words of the Psalms. It ALMOST as if the words are ALIVE!!! =) j/k - of course they're alive, but man I didn't expect to be so gripped by them. I feel hard pressed to know how I lived without them as a normative part of my day for so long.

Luke