WEEK EIGHT
(Romans 15 & 16)
WE MADE IT! The last week of our Romans study!! I hope that going through Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome has encouraged your faith, expanded your theology and knowing of God, and left you better than when you started.
As we look at the final two chapters, we’re listening in as Paul talks about how believers with different convictions should live together (very irrelevant in our modern world, I know), Paul’s personal desire to visit the Romans, and a whole list of shoutouts from the greatest apostle of all time.
1. Reread Romans 15:1-2. Paul tells us that our goal, if we see ourselves as ‘stronger’ in an area than a fellow believer, is to bear with their weakness and build them up, not indulge in our freedom. This can apply to such areas as drinking alcohol, observing the Sabbath, what you wear, and more. Are there areas of ‘freedom’ that you have that you know are causing someone in proximity to you to stumble? Can you sacrifice in that areas for their sake?
2. Romans 15:5-6 calls God the God “who gives endurance and encouragement.” Do you need either of these? Both? Are you looking to the world or to yourself or to people around you to give what only God can? If so, take a moment and talk to God. Ask Him to be the source of what only He can give.
3. Romans 15:13 is one of the most practical verses in the Bible. Similar to verses 5-6, Paul tells us that God is the God of hope and that He is able to fill us with all joy and peace, to the point where we overflow with hope. But there’s a key phrase to making this possible: “as you trust in Him.” So our ability to experience God’s peace and joy and hope is contingent on our willingness to trust and believe Him and His Word. So it can be fairly said that we always have access to the fulness of hope, joy and peace, but that our ability to access it hinges on our acknowledging, remembering, and believing God. This isn’t a question- it’s an opportunity to remind your soul to trust in and look to the One who can give you the peace, joy and hope you need.
4. Romans 16:7 is one of the key verses as it pertains to women in minsitry. The name Junia is a woman’s name, much as the name Susan is a woman’s name. There is no debate. And here, she is called outstanding among the apostles. So OF all the apostles, she is an OUTSTANDING apostle. So not only, then, can a woman be an apostle, but women can apparently also be OUTSTANDING apostles. What does this say about the way you view women’s roles in ministry? Does it confirm what you believe already? Challenge it? For more on this general subject, I greatly encourage you to listen to either of these messages by Kris Vallotton, linked here and here.