Bible Study on Romans Session 5

Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans;

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

Study Guide – October 2, 2018 – Romans 1.26-27 – Homily 4

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 26-27

  • All passions are disgraceful but lust cuts deeper – SJC “The soul suffers and is dishonored by sins more than the body is by disease.” (Pg 58, #1)
  • Women and men “exchanged” what they had. They were not forced into their behavior
  • Because they are unwilling to be led by God, they have no excuse. SJC “When God takes His blessing away from a pleasure, everything is upside down.” (Pg 59, #3)
  • Paul invokes nature to strengthen his argument. SJC “For he wishes both to speak with dignity and also to sting his audience. It was not possible to do both, because one hindered the other. For if you shall speak with dignity, you will not be able to attack your audience. But if you wish to assail them vehemently, you must reveal what you are saying in clearer terms. But Paul’s prudent and blessed soul had the strength to do both with exactness.” (Pg 59, #6)
  • Greediness (not just about money) leads to sin. SJC “Everything that transgresses the laws established by God lusts after monstrous deeds and does not desire those things that are ordered and governed by law and custom.” (Pg 60, #8)
  • Temptation VS Sin – putting things into action creates greater risk
  • There is a fourfold attack by the Devil
    • Devil divides the one into two (rather than the two becoming one flesh)
    • Devil excites the two parts to war against each other
    • Devil encourages nature to be ignored
    • Devil attacks human race by limiting procreation
  • Social law DOES NOT EQUAL moral – Because it was legal for men to do what they were doing, they did not consider it bad behavior. This is more dangerous because they are tricked into inaction against sin. (look ahead to Romans 1.32)
  • Ignoring nature leads to not being truly human. SJC “You did not change into that nature that belongs to women, nor did you keep the nature that you used to have. You have become a traitor common to both natures, and you deserve to be driven out by men and women and to be stoned to death by both, because you have done wrong to both sexes….For it is not the same thing to change into the female sex and to become a woman while staying a man but, rather, it is to be neither man nor woman.” (Pg 63-64 #22, 24)

Life Application – Maintain the fear of God

  • Without the fear of God, all that is good goes to ruin“For nothing, I repeat, nothing, so destroys a human being as slipping away from this anchor. In the same way, nothing saves a man as does keeping his eyes fixed on this fear. For if, by keeping our eyes fixed on a man, we become more hesitant about committing sin, and if, because we are apt to blush in the presence of the gentler servants in the house, we often refrain from doing what is disgusting or out of place, consider that we will enjoy every security if we keep God before our eyes.” (Pg 65, #31)
  • When we ignore our given tasks, we suffer“For we have been sent to accomplish many urgent tasks. If we neglect these and stand around gaping at unprofitable things, because we have squandered all our time in vain and to no purpose, we shall pay the extreme penalty.” (Pg 66, #34)
  • There is nothing special about wealth “Why do you stand gaping with eager excitement at the sight of riches? What is so wonderful about wealth that it can hold your eyes fixed on it? You keep looking at horses with gold trappings, house slaves (some barbarians, some eunuchs), extravagant and expensive garments, and an enervated soul wearing them. You fix your eyes on eyebrows raised in haughtiness, people running around in tumults…Even if they wear ornaments of gold, they are especially to be pitied on this account, because the things that are nothing to them are the things they seek after and desire all the more eagerly. Please do not look at the garments they wear, but uncover their souls and see if they are not filled with countless wounds, if they are not clothed in rags, if they are not destitute, if they are not stripped of every defence.” (Pg 66-67, #35,37)
  • Real peace comes from virtue – “It is better to be a poor man and to live a life of virtue than to be a king and live a wicked life. The poor man enjoys every luxury of the soul; he does not even see his outward poverty because of the wealth within him. But the king, living in luxury amid things that are not proper or befitting, is punished in the things that really make the greatest difference to him and are the most important. I mean in his soul, in his reasoning powers, in his conscience – the things that will go with him to the life hereafter.” (Pg 67, #38)

Send-Off – Seek after virtue! “Let us take up a life of virtue and the pleasure it brings.” (Pg 67, #39)