Romans

A Brief Summary of Romans

Introduction:

The Book of Romans was written by the apostle Paul from the city of Corinth in approximately AD 56. At the time of his writing, he had yet to visit Rome, though he greatly desired to do so. It was not until approximately AD 61 that he was able to “visit” Rome, and then, only as a prisoner under house arrest for two years. He was released in AD 63 and finally was rearrested and executed there in AD 68.

This grandest of Paul’s epistles, teaches us many great lessons, but perhaps the greatest principle it teaches us is the fact that man is justified by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul’s main focus in writing this epistle to the church at Rome is to emphasize this point. The doctrine of justification is developed throughout the first eleven chapters of the book. The remainder of the book deals with our life as a Christian, once we have been justified. Romans chapter 1 begins with Paul’s introduction and with an inspiring statement about the Gospel’s power for salvation. Paul then goes into great detail throughout the entire book to expound upon the Gospel’s good news of salvation and justification by faith in Jesus Christ.

Justification Is Necessary: Chapters 1-4

After Paul gives his opening address, he gets right down to business with the remainder of chapter 1 to show how the

Gentiles are in sin and are in need of justification and salvation. Having established that the Gentiles are in sin, Paul in chapter 2 goes on to explain that the Jews also are in condemnation and in sin because of their unbelief in the Gospel. In chapter 3, Paul concludes that no one is righteous, if they are seeking justification on their own terms. He states that all have sinned, both Jews and Gentiles, and that all mankind is in need of justification on because of their sins.

The Jew’s religion (at this point it was no longer the religion of God) had devolved into a system of salvation by works. They believed that in the outward display of keeping to the tenets of the Law of Moses they could merit salvation. The Jews had much pride in the fact that they kept the letter of this law (according to their traditions). They did not understand that the Law did not absolve them from sin and that justification only came by faith in God, demonstrated by obedience, not by mere law-keeping.

In chapter 4, Paul uses the example of Abraham to show proof that one does not have to be circumcised or be under the Law of Moses to be justified. Abraham’s obedience and faith – before he was under the covenant of circumcision – was accounted unto him for righteousness. God kept His promise to Abraham because of his faith.

Justification Is Effective: Chapters 5-8

In chapter 5, we see the multitude of blessings that we have in Christ. The justification through faith in Christ brings us into a right relationship with God. Only through Christ can we have atonement and know the depths of God’s grace, love and mercy. Chapter 6 shows us the method by which God has chosen for us to demonstrate our faith in order to receive justification and that is in baptism. In submission to water baptism our faith is imputed to us for righteousness. We die to sin and death itself.

Chapter 7 deals with the Law of Moses and its termination. We see the purpose of the law, its emphasis and its effect on the conscience of man. Paul demonstrates that the Law of Moses died at the cross and we are now under the law of Christ. Christ fulfilled and replaced the Law of Moses bringing into effect His law of faith. Chapter 8 teaches that there is no power on earth to forcibly, against our will, remove us from the love of Christ once we have been justified by faith in Him.

The Nation of Israel: Chapter 9-11

This section deals mainly with the rejection of Christ by the Jewish nation as a whole. As well, Paul deals with the definition of who a true “Jew” is. Israel believed that they were saved because of their ethnicity and that only they were meant to have salvation. Paul demonstrates how that all who are justified by faith are the spiritual seed of Abraham. We also learn that the Gospel’s rejection by the Jews made possible its acceptance by the Gentiles.

Practical Application: Chapter 12-16

Chapter 12 deals with the quality of our spiritual life and how we are to deal with others, both friend and foe. Chapter 13 teaches us how we are to deal with those in governmental authority over us and of the urgency of salvation. Chapters 14 and 15 deal with matters of mutual respect and judgment and the example we have in righteousness in Jesus Christ. In chapter 16, we see Paul’s example of love for the brethren in his greetings to certain members of the church at Rome. And finally in chapter 16:17-20 we have Paul’s admonition to remain faithful and holy and to mark those who cause division.

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Self-Control, NOT Gun Control

Self-Control, NOT Gun Control

“Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control…” (1 Cor. 9:25-27; ESV).

In a horrifically terrible and tragic event which transpired on Saturday, December 1st, 2012, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher allegedly shot and killed his (former?) girlfriend before eventually taking his own life with a handgun later that same day in the parking lot of Arrowhead Stadium. The following evening, on Sunday night, December 2nd, a widely known and highly respected sportscaster used his halftime segment of a nationally-televised football game to advocate for gun control. During the conclusion of his monologue he made what I would have to describe as one of the most ridiculous, ignorant, ill-informed and self-deluded statements I have personally heard from anyone in quite some time. And I quote: “If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Cassandra Perkins would both be alive today.” Really?!?

Is there anyone out there in their right mind, who truly believes that even if any 6’ 2”, 228 lb. professional athlete and NFL linebacker in the prime of his career didn’t possess a gun, that there is no way on earth that he could ever possibly find any other way to kill a woman (or man, or himself, or even several of each of these others) if he truly wanted to? Really? Could he not have used a baseball bat? What about a brick? Maybe smother her with a pillow? Is it not entirely possible that if any such athlete truly wanted a woman dead, that he could have gotten her into his car and driven them both off of a cliff or into a river? What possible self-delusion and/or personal agenda could blind such an otherwise apparently intelligent human being, as to make them publicly profess to believe that one of today’s professional athletes in such tremendous physical shape could not kill a woman even with just his bare hands if he really wanted to? Probably the same type of apparently otherwise intelligent human being who is suffering from the self-imposed delusion that any person truly bent on taking another’s life would somehow be stopped by some sort of law that says that guns are illegal! So is murder! But that law already on the books really doesn’t seem to slow such people down much in reality now does it?

And just what if it had gone down with one of those other weapons instead of with a gun? Would such sportscasters have been on national television the very next night advocating for the banning of, let’s say, baseball bats? (Can you imagine some semblance of the following: “Sorry folks, but there should be no professional baseball season this summer because baseball bats are just way too dangerous. Oh, and we will henceforth be petitioning Congress to pass a new law to remove both wooden and aluminum baseball bats from all schools, college campuses and store shelves as soon as possible.”)

And just what if a brick had actually been used by some professional athlete to beat his girlfriend to death? Would said sportscaster have gone on national television the very next night to advocate for the banning of bricks from all private and public places and uses in this country? Of course not! They’d have immediately been made a laughingstock! Oh, and what about if such a murder had been committed by means of smothering with a pillow? Would we have been subjected to such abject and utter silliness as, “If so and so didn’t possess a pillow, his girlfriend would still be alive today?” Would there have been a call for couch cushions to have been confiscated? Or, what if bare hands were used as they are in many murders? Would anyone else in the American media spotlight have publicly advocated for the outlawing and removal of hands? I somehow seriously doubt it. And after all, we already know about automobiles… and alcohol…

A few weeks after the aforementioned tragedy, another professional football player from a different team was tragically killed in an automobile accident while riding in a car driven by one of his teammates who was allegedly intoxicated. Where was the loud cacophony of cries from the earlier-mentioned celebrity sportscaster and his cohorts calling for the institution of “car and alcohol control?” Which one of them stated in all due seriousness, “If so and so didn’t possess an automobile, his NFL teammate would still be alive today?” None of them; at least that I am aware of. And incidentally, one does have to at least wonder: If gun companies like Winchester were as big of an NFL sponsor as beer companies like Budweiser, would sports commentators like the aforementioned have quite as much to say when such deaths resulted from the abuse of the products of their biggest corporate sponsors? I don’t know. But I still do know that at least I heard no such specific public outcry from them regarding this equally tragic and needless death, calling for the control of automobiles and alcohol as I did when it came to the other two deaths involving the use of a gun. In fact, I heard no more call for the banning of automobiles and alcohol in relation to this latter death than I did for the banning of planes and air travel when Muslim terrorists used those very means to take down New York’s Twin Towers in 2011, killing nearly 3,000 people in the immediate onslaught. Why is that? Because sane and thinking people immediately – even if only subconsciously – realized that the ultimate problem there wasn’t the fault of the planes but of a handful of people who merely used the planes as the means to a very evil and tragic end.

Why can’t this country’s fanatical and hypocritical “gun control” advocates conceive, accept, and admit to this same exact concept? I really don’t know, but apparently they can’t… And while I by no means intend to minimize or marginalize the simply unspeakable and horrific tragedy and atrocity that occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut where 20 children and several staff members were mercilessly gunned down very shortly thereafter… yet because it serves as such an unmistakable illustration of the utter and incredible hypocrisy of so many of those in the “gun control advocacy corner,” it must at least be mentioned here, as here they came yet again on the heels of that tragic act of terror and horror as well, calling for the blame to be placed on inanimate objects once again, instead of placing the blame where it truly belongs…

So what is this incredible and insidious hypocrisy of which I speak? Simply this: while it is true that on that most tragic and darkest of days in Connecticut in deep December when some twenty young, pure, and innocent lives were brutally taken from this earth on that day and in that place – and while I by no means intend to make light of those parents’ horrific and immeasurable loss in any way, shape, or form – there are at least, on average, several hundred times that number of innocent childrens’ lives taken every day in this country through the bloody butchery we call “abortion,” as the merciless war and unholy holocaust that has cost the lives of so many millions of innocent children continues… And one of the most heinous of hypocrisies has to be that so many of the so-called ‘liberals’ who cry out so relentlessly from the “gun control” advocacy corner of our ungodly society every time an adult, a child, or a handful of people die as a result of a sinful human being wielding a gun, in many cases, support both militantly and wholeheartedly, the wholesale butchery of our unborn children by the hundreds every day in this country! And that isn’t even the most unbelievable facet of their hypocrisy. Try this following on for size…

One can call and advocate for everything from “gun control,” to “bat control,” to “brick control,” to “pillow control,” to “cushion control,” to “car control,” to “alcohol control,” to “plane and air travel control.” We can outlaw every modern thing we have that could possibly ever be used as a weapon – from computer monitors to pocket combs; we can legislate ourselves out of everything we have while outlawing ourselves completely back to the stone age if we want. But the simple truth of the matter is still this: as long as there are branches on the trees, stones on the ground, and hatred and hardness in the hearts of some towards their fellow human beings that could conceivably cause them to want to murder them – men, women, and yes, even children – then people will always either find or invent a way to kill. Period. The solution to the problem here is not that we need more of any and/or all of the above-mentioned controls – including gun control – but ultimately that we human beings need far more “self-control.” Because whether we are discussing suicidal line backers, intoxicated drivers, troubled twenty-somethings, or unborn baby butcher shops, the problem here is not a political one, but an inward, spiritual, and biblical one!

Every one of the above-mentioned losses of life could have been stopped dead in its tracks, long before any of these tragedies ever even began to occur, by the humans involved in them exercising more self-control. Everything from anger, to alcohol, to abortion – all of these death-dealing and crime-contributing factors could have been easily eliminated simply by the advance and exercise of more powerful and personal self-control. Period. And so, what exactly is the ultimate source of such an all-consuming and death-delivering self-control? The one thing that the majority of people in our country today who adamantly claim they want such crimes to cease, seem to apparently rather die themselves than to ever see instituted and insisted upon as the ultimate and exclusive answer and solution to our sin problem… Jesus and His word exalted as Lord and law once again!

Now granted; amongst those who claim to follow and believe in Jesus there are admittedly a large number of hypocrites and insincere people too. But there is also a large and concerned, sincere contingent of faithful followers who seek to humbly and wholly heed His word and carry out His commandments as well. These Christians are constantly taught, admonished, and take to heart His commandments to love their neighbor as themselves; to not commit murder, thievery, adultery, or other atrocities against their fellow man; to not react in anger; to indeed forgive whenever wronged; to not shed innocent blood; to not consume alcoholic beverages; and to exercise constant restraint and self-control in all things. In fact, that phrase “self-control” occurs repeatedly within God’s holy word. Here are just a few of God’s divinely-given and power-packed examples:

  • “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls” (Prov. 25:28; ESV).
  • “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal 5:16-25; NKJV).
  • “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (2 Peter 1:3-7; ESV).
  • “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness” (1 Thess. 4:1-7; ESV).
  • “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim 1:7; ESV).
  • “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us…For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:1-14; ESV).
  • But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” (II Tim 3:1-4; ESV).

The all-powerful and exclusive source of such far-reaching, all encompassing, and world-altering “self control” is none other than the author and finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is through our study and acceptance of His holy word, coupled with our humble and submissive obedience to it as we live for Him and allow Him to have all control, that we learn to practice such a life-giving and life-altering measure of self-control. Surely it is incredibly easy to see why those who truly and fully believe in His explanation, validation, and blood-bought guarantee of a blissful and heavenly home for those who live a holy life as He has said they must (II Cor. 6:16-7:1), and who conversely believe just as truly and fully that there is an eternal abode of hell and punishment, “…a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries…” (Heb. 10:27; ESV), will think long and hard, and do everything in their power – and as they rely on His limitless power – to exercise incredible and inhuman restraint, resolve, and self-control before committing such ungodly and hell-spawned atrocities as we humans sometimes perpetrate on others and put themselves at even any risk of personal and perpetual, eternal damnation in the process. It is also just as easy to see why those who, on the other hand, reject outright the notion of God, hell, absolute truth, and the divine inspiration of the holy and sacred scriptures (II Tim. 3:14-4:4; Psalm 119) – those who live lives as described in II Tim. 3:1-4 and other such places – have no problem with living solely, sinfully, and single-mindedly for themselves, despite the eventual and eternal costs and consequences.

And we have no one but ourselves to blame. Those who have sought and still seek to kick and keep God out of the classroom, the courtroom, and the bedroom have been quite successful. And as a result, it should surely come as no surprise, when those who grow up believing they came from animals, naturally wind up behaving like animals (Romans 1:18-32).

God put it this way in His holy word: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal 6:7-8; ESV). Until we truly get that, the atrocities will undoubtedly continue to both ‘cost us,’ and accost us.

But if we should ever really care to correct this course of needless bloodshed and chaos, the solution is simple: nothing short of a return to God-inspired, word-instructed, Spirit-empowered, self control. And that can only happen when we as a society make it our ultimate goal to once again return to God. Remember: The only legitimate answer is God-inspired and demanded “Self Control, Not Gun Control.” God bless.

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The Camel

The Amazing Camel and Its Creator

If someone you know has ever doubted that God exist, perhaps you should introduce that person to me, the Very Technical, Highly Engineered Dromedary Camel, the one hump kind. When I’m hungry I’ll eat almost anything including grass, plants, my master’s tent or his pair of shoes. In fact, my mouth is so tough that a thorny cactus doesn’t bother it.

I also have one hump, which weighs about 80 pounds. It is not filled with water as some believe. It is filled with fat, which is my body fuel. My Mighty Maker gave it to me because He knew I wouldn’t always be able to find food and so when I can’t eat, my body automatically takes fat from the hump, feeds my system and keeps me going strong. Its my emergency food supply. Now, as the hump gets smaller, it starts to Op to one side. But when I get to a nice oasis and begin to eat and drink again, my hump soon builds back to normal.

As for water, I’ve been known to drink 27 gallons of water in ten minutes. My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that in a matter of minutes all the water I’ve swallowed goes to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh. Now, in my travels across the hot Arabian desert, I can carry about 400 pounds of weight and can travel for 100 miles without stopping for water or food. But, I may look a wreck after a travel like this and I might lose 227 pounds with my ribs showing through my skin. But, I still feel great. I look thin because of the billions of cells are no longer fat, they’re flat. You see, my blood contains 94% water just like yours. But, when the heat gradually robs water out of my blood, I can lost up to 40% of my water.

Now, for humans, if you lose 5%, you can’t see anymore; at 10 % you can’t hear and you go insane; by 12 % your blood is as thick as molasses and your heart can’t pump. But, that is not true with me because my blood cells are elongated, not round as humans are. Now, after being so thin, I can find a water hole, drink for about 10 minutes and gain the 227 pounds of water weight I lost. Plus, I look great again. So, this is one proof that I am designed for the desert. But, that’s not all. My body even conserves water in the way my Intelligent Engineer made me by giving me a special nose that saves water. When I exhale, my nose traps that warm, moist air from my lungs and converts it back into water, which goes into my bloodstream. Also, when I breathe the hot desert air, it goes into my wet nasal passages and I convert any moisture from it into water.

As I travel, my Creator gave me special sand shoes. My hooves are wide, and get even wider when I step down. Each foot has two long bony toes with tough skin between my soles acting like a webbing. So, they won’t let me sink into the soft, drifting sand. This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him one hundred miles across the desert in just one day. (I troop about ten miles per hour.) Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere, bringing flying sand with it. But, my Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose but still allowing me enough air to breathe.

In addition, my eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens, keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly. If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye, the Creator took care of that too. He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper. Some people think I’m conceited because I always walk around with my head held high and my nose in the air. But that’s just because of the way I’m made. My eyebrows are so thick and bushy I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them. I’m glad I have them though. They shade my eyes from the bright sun.

Now, for a long time we camels have been called the “ships of the desert” because of the way we sway from side to side when we trot. This can make the rider seasick. Nevertheless, I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work. Both legs on one side move forward at the same time, elevating that side. My “left, right left, right” motion makes my rider feel like he is in a rocking chair going sideways.

When I was six months old, special knee pads started to grow on my front legs. The intelligent Creator knew I had to have them. They help me lower my 1000 pounds to the ground. If I didn’t have them, my knees would soon become sore and infected, and I could never lie down. I’d die of exhaustion. By the way, I don’t get thick knee pads because I fall on my knees. I fall on my knees because I already have these tough pads. Someone very great thought of me and knew I needed them. He designed them into my genes. It’s real difficult for me to understand how some people say I evolved into what I now am. I’m very technical, highly engineered dromedary camel. Things like me don’t just happen.

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” (Gen. 1:24–‐25)

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Suspicious

A great problem to good relationships with many people is their highly suspicious nature. For one who possesses this quality it is difficult to trust even their friends and associates. The person with a suspicious disposition is never at ease; they are always on the defense. Suspicious people act as though they may be trapped in some way and as a result suffer loss of face, loss of position, or loss of advancement in their chosen field. This kind of malady is common in big business and high finance where the rule of thumb seems to be doing anything to advance where the big bucks are found. People who possess this quality are constantly under stress from within and are often physically in pain because of the stress they have brought upon themselves.

Now, this mentality is a great disservice to the relationship one sustains in a church relationship; a person with this type of deficiency is constantly an agitation within the congregation. This type of person needs to seek help in settling down and becoming a useful worker with other Christians as they shoulder the load of work in the congregation from day to day.

The Christian ought to study and meditate upon the Scriptures that teach love, patience, and long-suffering —

1 John 1:3-7, “3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Rom 15:4-7, “4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” (KJV)

1 Tim 6:11, “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience , meekness.” (KJV)

Heb 6:12, “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (KJV)

Heb 10:36-38, “36 For ye have need of patience , that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” (KJV)

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Using Liberty

The Proper Use of Both Spiritual & National Liberty

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, opened his famous Gettysburg Address with these words, “Four-score and seven years ago, (now 230 years ago) our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…” President Lincoln was referring, of course, the birth of our great nation.

On July 4, 1776, The United States of America was born. As Americans and as Christians, we have been blessed by God to live here. We have freedom from tyranny and the constitutional right to worship God “in spirit and in truth…” (John 4:24)

Most people in this world do not have this same privilege – true freedom of religion. We often take for granted that which our brethren throughout history have never had. It was not until the Constitution of the United States (June 21, 1788) and the Bill of Rights (December 15, 1791) was adopted that a nation of people had complete freedom of religion. The First Amendment to the Constitution states,

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble….”

Before this (even in some parts of the United States), there was the concept of an official state religion. For instance, the official church of Great Britain was the church of England (Anglican church); in Italy, France and Spain, it was the Roman Catholic church.

Many of those who opposed the religion of their respective homelands and were persecuted for it, (such as the Puritans) came to this continent and established colonies where they could practice their religion freely. The descendants of these religiously persecuted people wanted a guarantee that no single denomination or religious body could be declared an official religion of the United States. They wanted to insure that the kind of religious persecutions their forefathers had endured in Europe would not take place on American soil. It was out of this constitutional freedom that the American restoration movement was born, resulting in the restoration of the Lord’s church.

We often take for granted that which many of our brethren in other countries do not have – freedom from religious persecution! Even still today, many members of the Lord’s church live in countries where they have no constitutional right to practice their religious beliefs. What a struggle they must face each and every day of their lives!

Even though some do not have religious freedom, all Christians, from the First Century to the present have had spiritual freedom and liberty in Christ Jesus. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free… If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed…” (John 8:32, 36). “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free…” (Galatians 5:1) With His own blood, Christ bought for us freedom from bondage in sin (Revelation 1:5; Acts 20:28), freedom from the burdens that a life in sin brings and freedom from the sentence of spiritual death in sin. (Romans 6:23)

In this country, all men and women enjoy national freedom. By our constitution, all men and women have the legal right to pursue life, liberty and happiness. While Americans are a nationally free people, but by and large, are not a spiritually free people, in the sense that Christ meant.

Members of the Lord’s church who live in this great nation have two types of liberty, spiritual and national. We should never allow either type of freedom to be used as an excuse in forsaking doing the will of the Father or to use it for an excuse to do what is wrong. “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh….” (Galatians 5:13a) Yet that is what so many people in our nation today have done with their lives. Rather than in freedom serving their fellow man, many today use that “liberty for a cloke of maliciousness…” (1Peter 2:16a) Read Romans 1:18-32 and see what results when a people turn away from God! “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34).

1Peter 2:16 and Galatians 5:13 implicitly state, that rather than serving the flesh or in otherwise sinning, we must use it “as the servants of God” and “by love serve one another.” Our country today has a spiritual sickness; a disease that has no political or physical cure; an ailment that no medical doctor, lawyer or politician can alleviate. Only the Christ has the answers to the problems besetting this country. It is up to Christians, as servants of God, to lovingly, compassionately, teach the gospel to a lost and dying world, that all men might come to know the healing that only the Great Physician can give. In carrying out this commission, we truly “by love serve one another.”

 

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