Epistle to the Romans – Andy Wrasman

How would you respond to this question, if you are a Christian? Have you ever heard this question asked? Do you have a solid reply? Is it hard for you to reply to it, or to speak up when you hear questions like this asked against the Christian faith? I hope these possible replies will help you. I think it’s good to first validate the question, to the let the person asking it know that you can relate to their doubts or confusion. But a question like this should never be validated without a proper, and immediate follow-up, unless we leave the person thinking that they are correct in their thinking. Sometimes, we can lead a person to the Scriptural answer simply through asking questions, in which case I have provided some possible questions for you to use. It’s also good to know where the Scriptural backing is for your answer and to always turn the conversation back to the Gospel after an objection is raised.

If you are not a Christian, and you are reading this, I pray that these answers will help lead you to receiving Christ as your Lord and Savior. Let me know if you have further questions.

Validation:

I think I understand where you are coming from. As Westerners we value personal freedom of choice, and in America we have built into our constitution that we all have the right to choose what religion we want to believe and follow.

Answer:

In many areas of our lives, our beliefs drastically matter. If a person believes one race, or nationality, is inferior and exterminated and follows through with that belief, it causes a serious problem for the race that is considered to be inferior and for any other race who believes acts of genocide should be stopped. (Many examples can be given similar to this in realms of morality, interpreting reality, or handling financial situations, and from any of these they’ll likely clarify that some beliefs matter, but in the realm of religion it doesn’t, or they’ll move into arguing that when it comes to religions the truth can’t be known, which is the next question on this list, but if they stick with this question, I’d continue with…) It seems that you are treating religious faith as inconsequential preference choices such as what type of movies you enjoy to watch or what type of music you listen to, but religions pertain to matters after this life. If Islam is true, I’d better submit to Allah and follow all that’s commanded in the Qur’an. If Hinduism is true, I’m in for a rough reincarnation. If Christianity is true, I’d better repent and turn away from sins and turn to Jesus for my righteousness and forgiveness. If Atheism is true, then you’re right it doesn’t really matter what you believe, since we’re all destined to be worm food.

Socratic Method:

“What if someone believed that rape was OK? Or incest?”

“What if someone believed that doctors and medicine should not be used because of their religion, and thus deny their children medical care that could save their lives? This is a real scenario that has arisen in America amongst followers of Christian Science.”

“Are you afraid of death? Do you believe that there is life after death? What if religions teach contradictory ways to obtain life after death, would it matter which one you believed and followed?”

“Why do you think it doesn’t matter what you believe in the realm of religion? Do you believe that all religions have the same core beliefs?”

Scripture:

Mark 16:16 – “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Romans 10:9-13 – “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Back to the Gospel:

Have you heard the verse John 3:16 from the Bible? It’s a verse that is oftentimes quoted by Christians because it contains a summary of the Gospel message, and Gospel means “good news.” John 3:16 says, “”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” According to this verse, belief in Jesus is necessary for salvation. Later in the same chapter, Jesus says about having faith in himself, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36). If Christianity is true, what you belief concerning religion does matter.

One of our school’s 60 memory verses is Romans 6:23. For the day we were looking at this verse, the assignment was to read Romans 6:23 in context. I let them students pick if they wanted to read the whole chapter, or just read some of the verses preceding and following it. The prompt was to write a reflective journal on their reading. They could write if reading Romans 6:23 in context added any additional meaning to the verse for them. They all had study bibles and I shared that if a verse or section stood out to them or led them to have questions, that they could read the footnotes and share what they learned. I also prompted them to consider looking up cross-references for verses that they wanted to learn more about. Finally, I gave the option of making an application journal, writing law and gospel applications for their lives, a practice we did with the memory verses last year. Here are a few of the journal posts from one of my classes:

1.) Romans 6:23 in context is a closing statement to, in my opinion, an excellent essay on the meaning of Christianity; that we, being saved, are to go on sinning no more. I believe Paul, who wrote it, makes an excellent case that having been saved by grace we are to go on living no more in sin but accept righteousness, as exemplified by his question, “how can a man live in his death?”

I also believe it makes an excellent case for the Reformed theology as well. As we were slaves to sin, we are now counted as “slaves to righteousness”; irresistible grace. It also offers a strong caution against those who proclaim that because they are saved, they may live on in the way they had, like adulterers, homosexuals and addicts; “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God.”

We should look to this passage and this chapter as a guideline for our Christianity. Do we aspire to conquer our sin, or do we continue to be mastered by our own humanity?

2.) I think Romans chapter 6 is somewhat of a downer. It says that we use to be slaves to sin and that now we basically should be happy because we are now slaves to another master; righteousness. I think it would be better described not as slavery, because in my opinion that is not really what being righteous is. But, Romans 6:23 makes me feel a lot better because that righteousness is a gift, and not a form of slavery, and I think that is a better way to portray it; a gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ, and not a form of slavery.

3.) Death to Sin, Alive in Christ

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too many life a new life.” The verse says it all. We are given new life because Christ had died for us. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” We don’t have to earn it; we just have to have faith.
Slaves to Righteousness
“Whether you are slaves to sin which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, through you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted…When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.” God has freed us from the control from righteousness. We were once slaves to sin but God had saved us. There are so many verses in the Bible that tell us how if we sin, and do not have faith in God, we are not saved. But if we have the gift of God, which is salvation, it is by faith we are saved. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
How can one believe that we have to do good works to get to heaven? It is right here in the bible. God is telling us we are saved through faith. It is a gift. We do not have to earn it. “The gift of God is eternal life…” It says it is a gift. We do not have to earn this gift. It also says that the wages of sin is death. If we do not let God take control or have faith in him and know he is forgiving, then we will not be dead forever.

4.) Proverbs 10:16 “The wages of the righteous bring them life, but the income of the wicked brings them punishment.” Proverbs 10:16 and Romans 6:23 are parallel verses with the same meaning. They are both talking about how we deserve death for our sin, but we are saved by the righteousness of God. I liked Romans 6: 21 which says: “What benefit did you reap at the time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!” I liked this verse because it’s pointing out how useless the things of this earth our, and how our sinful desires bring us nothing but death in the long run.

5.) I really like verse 19.
“I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.”

I like when it says “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.” It shows that we are sinful and cannot even begin to understand God’s love for us and how much we mean to him even though we are all terrible people.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That is our verse and it shows perfectly matching with the verse I liked earlier in the chapter, that we are sinful but God saves us always.

6.) The passage is talking about how weak we are as humans. We are enslaved to sin and those sins that we have committed had maybe felt good at the time, but in the end they result in death. It then says that now we have been freed from sin and are of God now and instead of death, we will reap holiness. We are dead in our sins, but through Jesus Christ, we are set free and have the hope of eternal life, and that is so comforting. Knowing that I am dead in my sins and alive in Christ gives me hope that I can get through life and enter into Heaven and leave this sin behind. I think 6:23 points us to our baptism. We lay down in death with Jesus, but resurrect with him when we come out of the water. When we are baptized, we are clothed in his righteousness and are made holy in God’s eyes, which is what this chapter is talking about. I looked up cross-references in Matthew and Ezekiel, and they both talk about being dead, but having eternal life. It’s amazing to see this concept throughout the Bible, even in the Old Testament.

7.) Romans 6 is all about slavery concerning if you are a slave to sin or to righteousness. You’re either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. If you are a slave to something or someone that means you obey them, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-…” If we are slave to sin we inherit death but if we are slaves to righteousness we inherit life, “The wages of the righteous bring them life, but the income of the wicked brings them punishment.” Proverbs 10:16

Tag: Epistle to the Romans

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