NOW A FEW SHORT definitions for NUT SHELL COMMETARY ON ROMANS.
Definitions 1
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Definitions 2
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GRACE Giving us good that we don't deserve.
MERCY Withholding from us that which we DO deserve. What do we deserve? The Law says "The wages of sin is death." Since the Bible declares all of us have sinned, God showed His mercy toward up by providing His Son to pay that penalty for us. God has shown mercy to me during my life time many times by delivering me from the results of my own foolishness. He is showing mercy to America in many ways although Americans, one by one, are turning away from obeying the laws of God and even denying the Word of God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
GIFT Somthing freely given. Not earned or deserved. Grace.
Rom 5:15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
DEATH Separation; When reading scripture, substitute the word 'separate' whenever you read the word 'death' to clarify the meaning.When you die, you do not cease to exist; you're spirit separates from your body. When Adam and Eve died in Paradise they did not cease to exist; their spirit was separated from God and His eternal life.
Unless a person has gone to Christ and received a living spirit from Him, he remains dead, separated from God. He is one of the living dead.
LIFE A quality of existence in a given sphere.
WORKS Any action on our part. Any energy expended for good or for bad. Usually used in scripture to express any effort on our part, such as religious acts or charitable acts to gain worth or favor in God's eyes.
BAPTISM Actual interpretation: Immersion - Submersion Just as you can substitute the word 'separate' for the word death in order to gain a unique understanding of the meaning of Scripture. You can substitute the word 'submerge' for the word 'baptism.' This helps you understand the context right away.
Different types of Baptisms
Baptism seemed to be a known ritual to the people of that time. It seemed to sometimes have a significance of identification. Like wearing a wedding ring today. We all know what that means. The wedding ring doesn't cause you to be married, but it is a sign that you did get married.
There are many baptism's spoken of in the Bible. You need to determine which baptism and it's significance is referred to by the context.
1 Cor speaks of the people being baptized unto Moses in the sea (but not the water) & the pillar of cloud. They were submerged with him
1 Cor 10:1-2 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
John's baptism (in water)
Acts 19:3-5 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" And they said, "Into John's baptism." And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after 
him, that is, in Jesus."And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Christian baptism ( in water)
Matt 28:19-20 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Bapti
sm into Jesus (The eternal life that is now in each of His children, was in Him as He hung on the cross along with our sins. We were submerged in Him on the cross) (Just as our old nature was 'in' Adam when he sinned and we all died in him.)
Rom 6:3-4 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
(the HS submerged into us after or at the time that we accept Jesus.)
Acts 1:5 "for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not man
y days from now."
Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. NASU
PS. I am making a choice to publish only a skeleton (thus the nutshell :) commentary on definitions and each chapter. This would encourage people who know little, or not sure they are interested to give the article a try.
BUT ... I encourage all to enlarge upon the truths, or disagree, so that all who are truly interested will be able to feast on the additional truths offered. I'm adding this statement as I, myself, am already learning from some of the comments offered and this has really added to my own enjoyment.
I am praying for each person that reads these ... that God Himself opens your mind and gives you His truth. I hope (Know) others of you are also praying.
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Comments: 43
I actually wrote this simple nut shell commentary to give to some people at work that were wondering about Christianity and also some new Christians. They are very basic ... but those that wanted more discussion came to my desk to talk.
I have no idea where this will go. Interested non Christians or new Christians ... or older Christians going deeper. Please involve your self. You will notice it will be a skeleton commentary but you or anyone else should feel free to take it in any direction.
Thanks for coming here and commenting. It is encouraging.
There is nothing more exciting than having God open up someone's eyes to truth. It turned my life upside down. Romans is famous for doing that :)
I hope you still love your job.
The human being exists in and between two worlds, the created and the eternal, one in time and space and one outside of time and space. Within the time-space world causality of the physical sort is established. Within the eternal world the "causes" are not physical. The Romans in their Latin language had words, often confused because they were losing touch (Isaiah's prophecy) with the timeless reality, for the two different type of lawful relationship. "Causa" (with the ablative case) and "gratia" (with the genitive case, surviving in such styles as "Elizabeth II dei gratia regina"). Grace is the English derivative of gratia.
"Grace" is not deserved in the sense we cannot compel it physically, and in eternity it comes to us from God, from greater consciousness than our own. But we have come far enough to think the logic of it, I believe. Ideas are also outside of time and space, true ideas are universal, and having a true idea empowers us. To discover a true idea that has not been known before -- that empowers the person who discovers it; but she or he is empowered further by sharing the idea. Thus Paul was made greater by his Damascus experience, but he would not have been so great as he is if he had not been willing and able to share his experience of the Christ. But all true ideas are from the divine, and it is the evidence of the greatness of the power of the divine that it makes truth and true ideas available to us.
Physically I'm "greater" if I can exert force on others. Spiritually the greatness of the Holy Spirit is to gift us with greater understanding than we could attain to of our own power.
I understand your definition of mercy, but it, too, can be enlarged. "Here on Earth," incarnated, we take up the influences of the flesh (desires) and the physical world, and so act out of "causa" (cause and effect) most of the time rather than by "gratia" (where the greatest power is Love). If we were only spiritual, such choices would diminish our being. Less and less we would become.
The ultimate mercy, then, is incarnation, life on Earth, where we can experience our shortcomings and bad choices (sins) without the imposition of the consequences which would fall upon our being in the spiritual world. Again, the Latin root of "mercy" points to worldly goods and their value (compare "Mercedes"). And those who find in the Bible many references to recurrent lives connect mercy to the chance to grow again that every life offers us.
Christ, of course, brings us the renewed spiritual power to overcome all the bad decisions we have made in this world, which have made it harder and harder for us to regain our proper being in God's world. The one requirement is that we open the door to His grace, that is, to reawaken the consciousness of spiritual law and truth. Then His grace abounds.
I believe the spirit separates from the physical body but not from itself...I think that it is impossible. I also believe our spirits are evolving always and eternally. Hence, I believe in reincarnation.
xo!
I actually copied your comment to read from paper. I don't know if anyone else is like me but I cannot concentrate on something with any technicality on the computer; I need to transform it to hardcopy so I can hold it in my hand :)
I will reread here shortly.
Oh oh ... Hmmm ... The three words used & definitions would be long and boring :) I just checked. See what you think about John's 3rd paragraph on top of your comment. If that is not adequate I will post the Greek and Hebrew definition.
I think we pretty much agree on much of your last paragraph. In Eccl 3 something:) God said He put '...eternity in our heart.' Although our bodies live in time ... we ourselves are timeless. Our spirits are of a different nature and do not age. They only become more wise or more foolish. I think you are saying our spirits (ourselves) are not separated but remain who we are and live forever. If so, we agree.
I don't believe in reincarnation in the way you do. I do not believe we actually come back into this world as humans again. I do believe God's plan for us continues into other realms. I do believe we continue to have adventure that stretches us and we continue to grow in every way. I feel there is enough glimpses of those things in the Bible that we can rest in that hope.
I'm also glad to hear perspectives from your view point since you are not a Christian. I teach philosophy club to some of my grandchildren. One of the first things I teach them is the value of ethical, intelligent adversaries. Both sides benefit by the exchange.
Lisa ... you did just that. The truth is I've been uncomfortable with the wording every time I read it and let it slide. I will borrow some of your words and clarify the statement as MERCY is so pertinent to God's plan and so wonderful. Give me a few minutes :) And thank you.
For example, have you read the part about "women are forbidden to talk in church, and must ask their husbands when they get" (synopsis only - not verbatum). Check it out, my curious minded friend who endeavors to understand. I like it - and you make me smile ~j
Glad you're here. Keep an eye on me. It helps. Lisa just helped adjust part of the article.
The first chapter is so strong ... I'm writing it as strong as I feel it was written even though I was a little tempted to soften it :):) Not really soften it ... just not speak of the hard parts. I nixed that plan and jump right into the frying pan :).
It will be interesting to hear the thoughts of others.
Guess I'll redo it ... ho hum. Head hung low :)
Thanks for coming by.
I think, therefore I am. Like in a nutshell.