The Surprising God

This post exegetes Romans 12:1-21, providing context for the Epistle readings on August 23 and August 30, 2026. Insights are drawn from "Romans: God's Good News for the World" by John Stott, and from "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary." "Christ with His Disciples" by Mironov (public domain via Wikimedia Commons) Introduction Paul concludes Romans (as he does most of his epistles) with a list of practical duties (ethics) that flow out of his presentation of the truths of the gospel. This is the gospel-focused, grace-based approach to Christian living where behavior flows from belief; where doing flows from being. And the behavior/doing to which Paul now turns focuses on relationships—beginning with our relationship with God and extending from there into our relationships with people. By grace we are rightly related to God in Christ. And now through Christ we are (by grace) rightly related to people and even to the State (Rom. 13). This is the transformat...

This post exegetes Romans chapter 11, providing context for the Epistle reading on August 16, 2026. Insights are drawn from "Romans: God's Good News for the World" by John Stott, and from "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary." "Paul" by Wyatt (public domain) Introduction In Romans 9 and 10 Paul has treated the issue of Israel’s relation to God from two standpoints. In chapter 9 he emphasized the sovereignty of God in Israel’s election. In chapter 10 he dealt with Israel’s responsibility in her failure to respond to God’s grace, ending with the verdict that she is ‘a disobedient and obstinate people’ (Rom. 10:21). These two presentations involve a serious tension. Will Israel’s sin and stubbornness defeat God’s purpose, or will God find a way to deal effectively with the situation so as to safeguard his purpose? To this question Paul now turns. His answer will dip into Israel’s past, encompass her present, but focus on her future. In doing so, he calls upo...

This post exegetes Romans 10:1-21, providing context for the Epistle reading on August 9, 2026. Insights are drawn from "Romans: God's Good News  for the World" by John Stott, and from "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary." The Apostle Paul (public domain) Introduction Chapters 9-11 of Romans address God’s relation to Israel. Chapter 9 looks at the past aspect of the relationship, emphasizing God’s sovereignty. Now in chapter 10 Paul emphasizes the present aspect of the relationship, emphasizing human responsibility in Israel’s continuing rejection of the gospel. He explains the reasons, the remedy and the results of that rejection. In studying this we learn a lot about the nature of saving faith and of the imperative to preach the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. The reasons for Israel’s rejection  Romans 10:1–13 You would think that Israel as a nation would have been eagerly expecting the arrival of her Messiah and been prepared to receive Him. For centuries the...

This post exegetes Romans 9:1-33, providing context for the Epistle reading on August 2, 2026. Insights are drawn from "Romans: God's Good News for the World" by John Stott, and from "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary." “Apostle Paul,” by Lievens (PublicDomain via Wikimedia Commons) Introduction Romans chapters 9-11 address relations between Jews and Gentiles, and particularly the position of the Jews with respect to God’s purposes revealed in the gospel. How could God’s chosen people fail to recognize their Messiah? How could their unresponsiveness be reconciled with God's covenant and promises? How did the conversion of the Gentiles, and Paul's unique mission as an apostle to the Gentiles fit in with God's plan? And what was God's future purpose for both Jews and Gentiles? Each chapter handles a different aspect of God's relation to Israel—this post exegetes Chapter 9, which deals with Israel’s fall from the historic (past) perspective of he...