Bible Study on Romans Session 4

Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans;

A Bible Study Based upon the Homilies of St John Chrysostom (SJC)

Study Guide – September 25, 2018 – Romans 1.18-25 – Homily 3

Prayer before reading of the Holy Scriptures: Shine within our hearts, loving Master, the pure light of Your divine knowledge, and open the eyes of our minds that we may comprehend the message of Your Gospel. Instill in us also reverence for Your blessed commandments so that, having conquered sinful desires, we may pursue a spiritual life, thinking and doing all those things which are pleasing to You. For You, Christ our God, are the light of our souls and bodies, and to You we give glory, together with Your Father who is without beginning and Your all holy, good and life giving Spirit, always now and forever and to the ages of ages.

Chapter 1, Verse 18-19

  • First Paul is gentle, then he tries arouses fear. SJC “So Paul tries to win them over to virtue by arguments from both sources. [gentleness and fear] For the same reason, God not only promised the kingdom, but also threatened men with Gehenna.” (Pg 45, #2)
  • We receive blessings because of God’s will to lead us to heaven
  • Pain is a result of our being sluggish and indifferent toward His will
  • We need to learn NOW rather than wait! SJC “What happens to us here in this world is for the purpose of correction; at that time it will be the ultimate punishment.” (Pg 46, #6)
  • Paul is addressing new converts (or even a few pagans) evidenced by how he attacks reason SJC “We have an example in the case of a man to whom the royal resources have been entrusted and who has been ordered to spend the money for the glory of the king. Suppose, he instead spends the money on robbers and harlots and sorcerers. Suppose, he makes them famous and illustrious from the royal resources. he is punished because he has committed the gravest injustices against the king. The same is true for those who have received knowledge of God and his glory but then bestowed this knowledge and glory on idols and, by their perversity of theirs, hindered the truth. At least, as a far as they could, they acted unjustly with regard to their knowledge, because they did not direct it toward fitting objects.” (Pg 47-48, #11)

Chapter 1, Verse 20-23 (Failure of Reason)

  • Creation reveals God; gave humanity knowledge of Himself but we ignored it – SJC “He put before their eyes the world that He had created. In this way the wise man and the unlearned, the Scythian and the barbarian, learned through their own eyes the beauty of what they beheld, so that they might mount up to God.” (Pg 48, #13)
  • Two-fold problem
    • They did not glorify God – Failure to recognize God
    • They worshipped idols – Exchange God for innovation
  • SJC “For if someone will try to walk on a strange road or sail a strange sea on a moonless night, not only will he fail to reach his goal sooner, but he will quickly be lost. This also happens to those who try to walk the road that leads to heaven but who take away the light from themselves and then, instead of light, they entrust themselves to the darkness of their reasoning powers. They will undergo a most grievous shipwreck because they are searching for a bodiless God among bodily things, and among shapes they seek for God, who has no shape or form.” (Pg 49-50, #18)
  • Paul mocks their idols by showing the extreme God VS creeping things. SJC “Please consider Paul’s wisdom and note how he sets forth the two extremes: God, the highest; and creeping things, the lowest. Rather, he does not put before us creepy things, but images of them, so that he might show clearly the evident madness of the pagans. For regarding the knowledge they should have had of God, who is incomparably superior to all, they bestowed this on what is incomparably more worthless than all.” (Pg 51, #24)
  • Devil is always eager (still today) to drag us down to be with the lowest creepy things
  • Free will has consequences, as God allows impiety and ungodliness hoping that we would learn from our mistakes. SJC “God let those alone who did not wish to accept hs help, but were the first to turn away from Him, even though He had supplied everything required of Him.” (Pg 52, #28)

Chapter 1, Verse 24-25 (Blessed be God forever)

  • Paul speaks in generalities but that does not negate the specifics. 
  • God is not harmed by our sin; He has no need to avenge Himself – SJC “Paul shows that it was not to avenge Himself that God let them alone, for God Himself suffered no harm. Even if they treated Him outrageously, He was not ill treated, nor was His glory diminished, but He remains blessed in every way.” (Pg 53, #33)

Life Application – Be like God, not the world

  • True philosophers are not offended by the actions of others – “For true philosophers resemble God in this respect, namely, when they suffer nothing at the hands of those who wish to treat them insolently; nor are they ill-treated by those who commit outrages against them, nor are they beaten by those who flog them, nor are they ridiculed by others who mock them. Someone may ask how this can be. It is possible, very possible, when you are not distressed by what is happening to you.” (Pg 53-54, #34)
  • Do not strike back – “Let us not seek to avoid insults but, when we are insulted, let us endure them nobly. For this is the only secure honor. Why is this so? Because you are a master of noble endurance, whereas the other man is a master of insulting. do you not see that steel does not strike back when it is struck? But, you say, that is characteristic of its nature. yet it is in your power, through your free choice, to be such as the steel happens to be by its nature.” (Pg 54, #36-37)
  • Grace awaits us in our patience – “If we are willing to prepare ourselves to be like Daniel, even now the grace awaits us. Even if the beasts are hungry, they will not fasten their fangs in your side. The lions saw the body of a servant, and they showed him reverence. When anger and passion see the members of Christ’s body (and this is what we, the faithful, are) how can they be anything but quiet?” (Pg 54, #38)

Send-Off – Eternal Crowns await us “May He stand by all of us and reach out His hand so that, after we have been gloriously proclaimed as conquerors, we may attain eternal crowns.” (Pg 55, #42)