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Romans 1-4
Reading through the first four chapters of Romans the main thought is faith. Chapter one and verse 17 tells us: "the righteous will live by faith." Then Paul goes on to tell us in many, many words and examples it is a life of faith that counts. Rules, commandments, laws passed by men are only guidelines to follow.
They are not the things that make us holy and acceptable to God.

He goes on to tell us if we would keep all the written law then we would have no need of atonement and Jesus would have died in vain. However because everyone has sinned; everyone is sinning; everyone has come up short; therefore none are exempted and we all need the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It is faith in Him which brings about righteousness and it has never been, nor will it ever be the keeping of
the law that makes our relationship with God and His creation acceptable.

From all of Paul's writing I would conclude, Man can keep all the law, he can make new laws, he can make a list of do-s and don't-s, he can write them down, memorize them, impose them on others or anything else that sounds and looks good in the eyes of mankind, but it will never be counted righteous until the heart is pure. It is the heart that needs cleansing and we as mere men cannot accomplish that fact on our own. It is Jesus Christ that makes it possible as we have faith in Him.

Actions often betray our hearts. We can remember there are usually two ways to live. We can be selfish or selfless. Our actions tell us and others where our heart is. I firmly believe faith in Jesus makes us selfless and faith in law or rules makes us selfish.

Romans 5
I am not sure I can make it any more plain than the writer of Romans about the grace of God vs. the law of Moses.

Simply put the law kills but grace gives life. The most wonderful discovery I have made in all of this is: Grace gives me life. I can live in Jesus without trying to sort out every little right or wrong. The Spirit teaches me what I need to know and actually empowers me to act accordingly, I live.

However every time a new rule or law is given me to follow it kills the spirit in me. Then instead of living according to the Spirit I must live according to the law. I become a victim of do or don't. In that situation even when the Spirit is leading me into an action or behavior, the latest rule may prevent me from doing so.

Please don't misunderstand me. There are times when laws serve in a good way. They become the guidelines to live by and are sorely needed in any society. One must never believe is right to just take off to do any and all things under the guise of spiritual freedom. Certainly the Holy Spirit will not lead anyone into ungodly acts of behavior. But at the same time men have made rules that stifle the Spirit and we need be aware of them in our daily living.

Romans 8
The letter from Paul to the Romans has such a deep and varied thought pattern it is difficult to just sort out one and comment on it. The whole of the letter contains a single pattern or thought while at the same time kindles many, many different sub-thoughts. I stand amazed at the writings. I also confess much of it I cannot grasp. However there are some which stand out vividly to me. One of which is the idea of sowing and reaping, Even though it isn't mentioned still we see the pattern. Death brings life. Life brings hope. Hope brings living. Living brings death. Death brings life. An ever widening circle begins to unfold.

Just like planting a kernel of corn. Its body dies and as it does a new life begins to sprout. The new sprout has no resemblance to the old kernel. As time goes on the sprout becomes a strong stalk with capacity to reproduce. It continues to reproduce, not just one kernel, but hundreds of them. When their bodies die in the ground the process begins over. Each kernel will bring forth new life that makes thousands of new life giving kernels. A cycle that never ends just gets larger and larger.

One thing I want to make clear, as a Christian my life is not designed to reproduce Christians rather it is designed to live in a personal intimate relationship with the Father, which is impossible when I am consumed with the sinful nature I was born with so I must die to it.

If we can put that into spiritual terms it might sound like this. When I put my flesh to death a new sprout begins. It is a spiritual one. The new does not resemble the old. In the spirit the old desires disappear and new ones take their place. These new desires create a life that does not resemble the old in any way. As this process continues daily, old desires are put to death, new ones take their place. As the new ones grow they multiply over and over bringing more and more new desires which in turn brings more and more death to the old. At the same time, the more death I have the more life I gain.

That becomes the hope within me which continues to produce new life because I can now see the more I die the more I live. Is dying easy? By no means is it easy. It is very difficult because I cannot comprehend what it will bring which takes us back to faith and hope. I hope to reach my potential and I also have faith to believe it will happen because I can see how Jesus was the pattern. He died, yet lives---therefore I can die and yet live! Hallelujah!

Jesus made it possible to die and to live; therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Also, because within the creation of the world, God has shown me these things over and over in His creation, I have no EXCUSE! I cannot say I don't understand!

As I read through Paul's letter to the religious leaders in Rome I am constantly reminded of how much the American religious world of today is so like the religious world back then. One could replace the name Israelite or any one of its different names that refer to the people of God, with the name Christian or any of its many names that refer to the people of God today and honestly as much as it pains me to say it--there is not enough difference even to describe. If I were to make a list of the sameness it
would be one long list.
I won't bore you with a long list but I will make two comparisons which are very simple and anyone can recognize.

First most Americans believe they are God's chosen simply because they are born free. When asked, "Are you a Christian" most people will answer, "of course I am an American." American and Christianity are the same as Jewish and The Chosen Race. We have even patterned our laws after the Jews and have them perverted likewise.

We have our Constitution and all its articles and amendments; they have their Ten Commandments and the Torah. They have taken the original law that was given by God and transformed it into hundreds of thousands of lesser laws, we have taken the original constitution and transformed it into laws that are as frivolous and undermining as the Jews did with God's law. I could go on and on but why. The underlying evil in both cases is; people have a mind and a will of their own. This supersedes everything in their life. "I want to do what "I" want to do" is the theme for both then and now; while at the same time pretend to have the mind of Christ or God.

God created us and the universe in which we live, yet we somehow continue to believe we know better or more than our Creator. This is in essence the society in which we live whether we claim Christianity or heathen and we are all a part of it and we all to one degree or another accept it as a way of life.

Secondly most Christians and their religion are so like the Jews and their religion. Somehow we have forgotten, or never knew, the spirit of God's law and we want to live by the letter of it and not in faith in relation to it. Example: Thou shall not kill. This is a far reaching guideline for God's people to live by realizing there many ways to kill someone or something--like killing or quenching the Spirit. This is the spirit of this law however religious people everywhere will tell you, "I have never murdered anyone therefore I am keeping the law" while at the same time their tongue has killed hundreds.

The wonderful thing about God is He never gives up on us. He is always waiting to hear from us in any form, repentance, worship, praise and the like. He always has a remnant of those who will choose to live by faith rather than by the law. The book of Romans spends a long time with many examples and personal insights of Paul to get that message across to the Jews then and to the religious people of today.
The bottom line is and always has been as you read through these words of Paul's it is the heart that God sees and not the mind that says and does all the proper things. To sum up Romans, "God's true Jew or true Christian is the one who lives by faith not by the law."

I will re-state some thoughts here.
I truly believe the Spirit gives life and the law brings death in all kinds of different ways. When a rule is made it removes the necessity of the Spirit's guidance.Rules are made not for obedient people but for disobedient ones. If I am obedient to the Spirit of God, rules are unnecessary. That tells me I should dwell on getting to know Him and His ways far more than memorizing the rules and do-s and don't-s of a group of people.

Personally when I am obedient and live out a leading of the Spirit I am so free and
confident; full of joy, purpose and energy but when I am required to follow a rule in
the place of the leading of the Spirit I become grumpy, critical, dissatisfied, lazy and really feel like I am betraying myself, my Lord, and others if others are involved.

I find when I am obedient to God life is far more fulfilling than when I am obedient to man. I also find no one knows me inside like the Spirit of God that lives within me so who better to direct me than the one who knows me best and too I find it is much easier to sing and talk about freedom than it is to live it especially in today's society whether Christian or non-Christian.

This is a part of who I am. I am still in the learning process of knowing how and when to be bold in my actions or to remain silent and still. My desire is to find those who are of like spirit; those who depend on faith and obedience in God rather faith and obedience in the rules of a religious group. Again I say this Roman letter is about faith; faith in God and His Spirit versus the law and all the rules made by man.

Romans 12
The writer had much to say about faith and the law in the earlier chapters now he is expanding his thinking, and yours I trust, to live out what he has been talking about.A new and different mind set must be brought into focus in order to live by faith. Think like God not like people of this world. As you begin Godly thinking you will become more and more able to determine the differences between faith and law.
Give yourself over to Him completely now while you are living and don't trust in death to make you some kind of saint or angel. Change the way you think is Paul's advice. Most of us could use a major change over.

Verses 6-8 we are told what you have already realized; everyone is different. Perhaps what we have not yet realized is the fact we are not required by God to be somebody or to do something we are not gifted to do. At the same time we are to use our gift with all the gusto we have, striving for excellence while we continue to grow in faith and strength in that gifting.

Two very saddening issues to me are: (a) a gifted person who will not put the God-given gift to use and (b) the person who believes he must do what he is not gifted to do. In both of these situations we are inclined to listen to the voice of others rather than trust our heart what we feel so strongly. I am persuaded that strong feeling in the heart comes from the Holy Spirit more often than not. Of course it is always wise to hear the voice of others but the final decision is determined by a personal relationship with Jesus and the desire God has put in our heart.

Verses 9-21 the writer urges us or commands us with ways to live. As I read these I realize already I am not capable to live in such a manner in my own strength without the grace of the Lord nor can I live them out without a great deal of mind changing or renewing. At the same time I also realize it is not required
of me to do this all at once, but it will come as I live by faith in the leading of the Holy Spirit and in the reading of God's Word.

Put those together with a determination on my part to be all I can be in Christ Jesus then and only then will I not fail. Will I stumble? Will I fall? Will I want to give up due to exhaustion? Yes to all those questions but faith in the results will keep me moving along as the Spirit reveals more and more
to me about me and my relationship with the Father. I will not let evil conquer me, I will be the conqueror in the name of Jesus!

Romans 13
Verses 1-7 are very plain about obeying the governing bodies where we live. If I want to live in America then I must obey the rules of America. I should speak the language, pay the taxes, honor the laws etc. I have the freedom to detest those in power and their actions but I do not have the freedom to disobey them as long as I want to maintain my citizenship. This should be the same attitude in the church we attend. As long as we want to remain a part of the church we are obligated to obey its leaders as well. There is no gray area in either of these places. Either obey or move on.

Verse 8 is probably used more to manipulate people about money issues than it is about its true meaning. Yes, by all means pay your bills, that is a part of honoring the Creator and the creation. When we borrow we are to pay back in full, however there is one debt we can never pay in full that is the debt of love for our fellowman. As long as we live on this earth we will always have the debt of love of God and man over us. When we accept that responsibility as our own we then keep the rest of the law--the commandments as stated in verse 9. This will also take care of honoring our government leaders and our treatment of each other and will constrain us from living out our sinful nature and its desires.

Romans 14
I have only one comment and it is not mine originally. It comes from the Message.We should forget about deciding what is right for others rather we need to be concerned about what to do with what we have. Everything God made is good and is holy in the eyes of Jesus. It is we who contaminate it by the way we use or abuse it.

Romans 15 and 16
The latter portion of Romans is mainly about recollections. Paul was remembering people and places and how his life was guided or changed and how his relationship with different people helped advance the Church of God. (Kingdom of God)

While reading sometimes it may seem boring to us, it is often a good thing to do even today. Moving away from a place that was home for more than two decades and leaving friends and acquaintances gained during that time has a two-fold feeling. Of course there is always the excitement of the next level of experience but at the same time the leaving behind those who have made a difference in my life is not a pleasant experience. It is not terribly sad but it isn’t terribly joyous either.
Mixed feelings were the norm during the time of preparation and the final move.