Going through Romans 7, I find a lot of our discussions could use more background than we have. When talking about “the Law”, there are two questions I have found very helpful in finding my way through Biblical texts, as well as conversations about them with others. The first I Read more…
Here is my mindmap of this passage: Here is the scrolls. Here are some more questions: 1. What question opens this section? 2. How is it answered? Why? 3. What images are used to describe our unrighteousness? 4. What are/aren’t they? 5. What do/don’t they do? 6. What are their Read more…
Here is my mindmap of this passage: Here are the scrolls. Here are some more questions: 1. What question opens this chapter? How is it rephrased? 2. What is the answer to the question(s)? 3. What other answers could be expected? 4. How does Paul connect advantage/profit with belief in Read more…
Here is my mind map of this passage: The scrolls is here. And here are a few questions of my own: How does Paul describe what a Jew does? How does he describe who a Jew is? How does he describe their teaching? What good deeds does Paul explicitly mention Read more…
This passage begins with something of a break in subject matter, though with a lot of continuity. If Romans 1:18-23 is really best summarized as “they are without excuse” (v20), then this passage can be seen as building on and extending that point with a different audience in focus: “you Read more…
Here is my mind map for this section: You can get a copy of the scrolls for this section here. And here are a few questions of my own: Who is Paul addressing now? How does the reader condemning himself? What is God’s judgment based on? What is the purpose Read more…
Here is my mind map of Romans 1:24-32: You can find the scrolls for this next week here. And here are some more questions to get you thinking: How did God respond to the suppression of his truth? What does the repetition of “God gave them up” three times mean? Read more…
As I thought through the structure of this passage (especially in making the mindmap here), I noticed what at first seemed a lopsided structure. That is, it looks like the first half is pointed forward to the end of v20, while the last half is pointed back to it. But Read more…
Here is my mind map for Rom 1:18-23: The link to the scrolls is here. Here are some other questions to get you thinking: 1. Does Paul seem to change the subject in this section? How/Why? 2. How does he describe the objects of God’s wrath? 3. What are they Read more…
This passage contains what is almost unanimously agreed to be the thesis of the book of Romans. It has a couple ambiguities, perhaps because multiple readings each contain aspects which will be brought out in more detail later. First, I’m not sure about the three for‘s in this passage. The Read more…
