May 20, 2022
1SAMUEL 5-6:
Yesterday we saw the touching way that God
revealed to Samuel how to listen for God's voice, and at the same
time how He again warned Eli of impending disaster. Eli was
incredibly able to recognize the way the Lord works, but at the
same time was unconcerned about how God's words applied to him. Let
us not be like him! Observe this link to Romans: God's judgment
will come to us just as surely as it did to Eli's sons.
PSALM 93:
Like
the Gettysburg Address, sometimes the noblest thoughts are best
expressed with brevity.
ROMANS 2b:
In
yesterday's reading, Paul continued to prove that man is not
“basically good” (which one keeps hearing in Hollywood films and on
the television). Not only are we sinful, but we tend to be
self-righteous— which in itself is sinful. The ‘bad news’ is
compounded in these additional points: “A day of anger is coming,
when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. … There will be
trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—
especially for the Jews, but also for the non-Jews.”
Verse 12 is difficult so I
suggest reading verse 12 from the PET before picking up reading at
verse 13.
Rom. 2:12 PET
So people who already know the Law and break it are just the same
as those who've never heard about the law and commit sin. Sinners
who don't know the Law will be destroyed. Similarly, people who
already know the Law and commit sin will be judged according to the
law.
NLT Translation notes:
Ps.
93:5 NLT Your royal laws cannot be changed. [Holiness, O Lord,
aptly adorns your house forever.//Your reign, O LORD, is holy
forever and ever.]
[Using NLT’s version, the listener will likely
misunderstand ‘holy’ as ‘wholy’.]
[NET] Holiness aptly adorns your house, O Lord,
forever.//
[HCSB] holiness is what makes your house
beautiful for days without end.//
[GW]
holiness is the beauty of Your house for all the days to
come.]
====
Rom. 2:9 There will be
trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is
evil—[especially for the Jews, but also for the non-Jews//for the
Jew first and also for the Gentile].
10
But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do
good—[especially for the Jews, but also for the non-Jews//for the
Jew first and also for the Gentile].
12
[CEV [Non-Jewish people//Those people} who don't know about God's
Law will still be punished {and destroyed} for {the wrong they have
done//what they do wrong}. And the Law will be used to judge
everyone who knows what it says.//PET So people who already know
the Law and break it are just the same as those who've never heard
about the law and commit sin. Sinners who don't know the Law will
be destroyed. Similarly, people who already know the Law and commit
sin will be judged according to the law.//When the
[non-Jews//Gentiles] sin, they will be destroyed, even though they
never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law,
will be judged by that law when they fail to obey
it.]
[The NLT starting with a ‘When’ phrase makes
this sound like sudden destruction from God would come on non-Jews
during their lives on earth. The original does not start with a
‘When’ phrase but with a ‘therefore/so’. The PET starts with a
sentence of implicit information based on the grammatical
parallelism of the Greek.]
14
Even [non-Jews//Gentiles], who do not have God’s written law, show
that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even
without having heard it.
24
No wonder the Scriptures say, “The [non-Jews//Gentiles] blaspheme
the name of God because of you.”
25
The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey
God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off
than an uncircumcised [non-Jews//Gentile].
26
And if the [non-Jews//Gentiles] obey God’s law, won’t God declare
them to be his own people?
27
In fact, uncircumcised [non-Jews//Gentiles] who keep God’s law will
condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God’s law but
don’t obey it.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.