Bible Study of Romans

I propose that we try (once again) to do a study of a short Bible passage, verse by verse, word for word, if need be...

But there need to be some rules.

1. Although this would be of primary interest for believers in the Christian Scriptures, anyone can join, but No mockery or idiotic posts.
2. Rules of grammar and syntax and definitions of words are more important than opinions. You do not have to believe what you are explaining, but you must be true to the text and the meaning of the words.

Let's post some ideas of passages that would be of interest..

I suggest Romans 1. (Let's not do prophecy please.. that gets too complicated in this context).

Anyone else?

[Larimar]

Sounds fun and educational.

How does it work?
One chapter chosen? or one piece of it?

[The Berean]

Please YES, A!!

Ignore the poofters, just keep motoring with it and they will disappear.

Romans 1 sound good. All I have to do is check which book of my bible has the fewest notes. Not too many there.

And another suggestion. No large quotes from other sites. The occasional short citation would be fine. But it would be too easy to swamp the forum with huge quotes from other websites. The goal here is to learn by digging yourself.

[Larimar]

which version of the bible are we using?

[The Berean]

Let's pick one, like the NIV or the KJV. But refer to the Greek when necessary.
No one translation is perfect.

I will mostly use the NIV (find it at Biblegateway.com) but when it helps, we may use versions that best bring out the Greek definitions. So here is the first paragraph:
Rom 1: 1-7

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Maybe the first topic that needs to be discussed is, Why did Paul write the Romans? What was his purpose? What was the occasion? This kind of background questioning helps understand the general drift of the letter. For now, I am going to bed.

[Larimar]

night

1. Who started or how did the church in Rome get started?
2. What was Paul's interest in going to Rome? Why is he writing them?
3. What was the ethnic/sociological makeup of the church in Rome?

[GenX]

So, we have a man with a theological degree pretending this is just some casual exercise in "Bible Study; yet, this man with the degree also wants to make sure other sites are not used that have the opinions of others just as, or more, educated than him in Bible study and verse by verse analysis.

This is like a history major wanting to discuss historical subjects with people who have a simple and hardly complex understanding of the issues at hand. "But remember!", claims the history expert, "I don't want you referencing other historical experts!"

Good grief, talk about an exercise in ego-stroking.

Nevertheless, carry on.

[GenX]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Aydeloof</div><div class="ubbcode-body">1. Who started or how did the church in Rome get started?
2. What was Paul's interest in going to Rome? Why is he writing them?
3. What was the ethnic/sociological makeup of the church in Rome?
</div></div>

LINK

You misunderstand, Speedy, and are needlessly causing yourself grief by being so sour this morning. Or maybe your blood sugar is too low this morning?

The point of this exercise is for people to study and write in their own words what they have studied. What's the point of this kind of exercise if I can go and copy and paste a sermon from some expert on Romans?

I can go and read what the experts have to say, and then explain what I have learned in my own words. That's my aim for the participants in this thread.

And please don't bog my thread down with rabbit trails such as you just did. If you want to attack me, save it for the other threads.

[GenX]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> What's the point of this kind of exercise if I can go and copy and paste a sermon from some expert on Romans?</div></div>

Because eight separate answers give us eight more things to be confused over.

In essence, it's Protestantism writ small: every person for themselves, and truth be damned.

[GenX]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If you want to attack me, save it for the other threads </div></div>

Add "Martyr Complex" to the out of control ego...

[KDawg]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Speedy the Parrot</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> What's the point of this kind of exercise if I can go and copy and paste a sermon from some expert on Romans?</div></div>

Because eight separate answers give us eight more things to be confused over.

In essence, it's Protestantism writ small: every person for themselves, and truth be damned. </div></div>

What about good ol' fashion debate? Hammering out what the authors' intentions were? Forget the topic for one second. It's a great way to get people to think and post their thoughts after reading the subject matter - a great way to learn. Much better than mindlessly copying & pasting others' thoughts.

I'd like to get into this when I have time to read Romans 1 in detail.

In Acts 2, the disciples in general and Peter in particular are empowered to preach the gospel in such a powerful way, that thousands of people are converted to the belief that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. This event happened just 10 days after Jesus Christ left the earth.

The feast of Pentecost was a Jewish feast that had Jewish pilgrims visiting from all corners of the then known world. The account reads as follows:

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

So we know that people were there from Rome. We can safely assume that therefore some Roman Jews went back to Rome as converts to Christ. There is no other explanation in the Scriptures to indicate how the church in Rome came to be.

The first believers in Rome then, were Jewish converts. This is significant, because Paul spends a good deal of ink addressing both the Jew and the Gentile in this letter. In fact, every major city in the Roman empire had Jewish settlements, so it is safe to assume that most of the 1st generation churches were made of both Jews and Gentiles. This cultural mix would pose problems in almost every church.

[Boondock]

YaYYYYY!
Let's all do bible homework on the internet for no reason.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/purpbanana.gif[/img]
This what bible thumpers do for fun?
I tell ya if this what it gonna be like in heaven I volunteer to take the first train to hell. Too bad I don't believe in either.
Bwaaaaaaa [img]/ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cry.gif[/img]

[Larimar]

Boondock, when you dislike something , why do u place so much time and energy into replying in their threads?
It really doesn't make sense...Don't you have your own hobbies and interests ? Maybe they just like to debate about their religion...so what?
Nobody forced you to join in.

[The Berean]

Keep going A, the poofters will give up eventually.

Havent had time to dig in yet but I had not noticed that thing in Acts about the Jews from every nation starting the Roman church. Makes sense.