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Yesterday, it was rainy and cold and blah.

I know I need to write.  But what?

Well, at least I know some things.

Thank God, right?





Summary of passage:  The whole world is accountable to God and His Word.  His Word makes all conscious of sin and merely observing the law does not make you righteous.

12a) Just that:  To silence every critic, God is making it clear ALL are guilty before Him.

b) So far, it hasn’t really. I’ve learned more about the importance of it, but it hasn’t had an concrete effects on identifying and confessing sins.  It’s Week 4.

Conclusions: Unsure why we need a whole day on these two verses (besides the obvious that Romans only has 16 chapters for a 30 week study), which in my mind only emphasizes the facts we’re not righteous just because we obey the law, which is what we’ve been talking about all week.

End Notes:  The law cannot save you.  It gives you knowledge of your sins, not salvation.  In fact, it condemns you, not saves you.  Yes, God wants you to keep His laws and walk in His ways.  But that alone will not give you eternal life.  Only the purifying blood of Jesus can do so under the New Covenant.

J.B. Phillip’s paraphrase of “through the law we become conscious of sin” is striking.  He writes, “it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are.“




Summary of passage:  Paul says we are all sinners and no one is righteous, quoting from the Old Testament.


8a)  Part personal Question.  My answer:  No one understands God.  No one seeks Him.  All turn away and become worthless.  No one does good.  Their throats are open graves, their tongues full of deceit, and they speak poison.  They curse and are bitter.  They are swift to shed blood.  They bring ruin and misery.  They do not know peace.  They do not fear God.  We all have sin in our lives and are surrounded by sinners.  People are mean.  They fall away from God.  Wars.  Flippant attitude towards God and sinning.  Personally, sticking to God’s path is the hardest and dealing with my own sin.

b)  Part personal Question.  My answer:  Tongues are full of deceit.  The poison of vipers is on their lips.  Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.  The tongue can corrupt the whole person.  It is full of evil and poison.  Speak more words of encouragement and praise.  There’s enough complaining and tearing down in this world.

9)  No one fears God.  Well, Paul quotes from the Old Testament here and he is living in New Testament times.  Regardless, man’s nature doesn’t change with time.  He is a sinner and is prone to turn away from God and not fear Him. God thus judges and punishes as we see all throughout the Old and New Testament.  So will it be until the Second Coming.

10)  Think before you act.  Repent.  Ask for forgiveness.  Put others first.  Follow God’s laws.  Worship Him.  Treat God and Jesus with the respect they deserve.  Both lie in your heart and you do everything in your power to keep them there.

Conclusions:  Paul again is emphasizing how we are all the same no matter what our backgrounds. God treats us equally.  He takes it further here by saying we are all sinners and listing ways in which we sin.  He wraps up with how no one fears God when we should.  Good lesson on keeping us all humble.  Least we get on our high horses, read Romans.

End Notes:  Again, Paul says all are under sin and deserve condemnation (Jews, pagans, Gentiles, everyone).

“Under sin” literally means sold under sin or a slave to sin. We are all born in sin.

Paul then quotes the Old Testament (mainly Psalm and Isaiah) as proof of our sinhood.  Paul uses parts of the body to emphasize our complete helplessness to save ourselves.  Adam before the Fall wasn’t even righteous.  He was merely innocent.  The throat, tongue, lips, mouth, feet, and eyes are filled with sin and rebellion against God.

God calls all of us.  On our own we would not seek out Him.

We sin because we do not have the proper respect (or fear) of God.

Side Note:  If you were to look up these verses, you would find Paul does not quote them verbatim.  There are several reasons for this:




Summary of passage:  Some justify their sins by saying their sins make God more righteous and true and brings Him more glory so they don’t deserve His wrath.  This is a human argument.  God does not need mere mortals to proclaim him righteous.  The gall of mankind!  God will judge evil no matter what justification man’s limited mind comes up with.

7)  Part personal Question.  My answer:  All sin is evil.  I don’t like to sin. Who does?  I try not to, I repent when I do, I accept God’s forgiveness, and I try to be better.  That is what God desires.

Conclusions:  No sin is justified.  Period.  God hates all!

End Notes:  People use this argument when their sin leads to good.  Think of Judas and Joseph.  Judas’s sin lead to Jesus saving all of us.  Joseph’s brothers’ sins lead to him saving all of Egypt during the famine and God’s people who moved to Egypt during the famine.  However, sin is sin.  It’s no credit to man what God does and God chooses to use it for good is His prerogative.

God will use the unrighteousness of man to accomplish His work and bring praise to His name – Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is a perfect example. Nevertheless, part of the way God glorifies Himself in man’s sin is by righteously judging that unrighteousness.

God judging the world refers to the End Times.

Paul was falsely reported as having given permission for all to sin so God would be given the glory.  He refutes this here.  Remember, salvation by faith in Jesus Christ was a new idea in first century AD.  Confusion would be a given as Paul clarified Jesus and what his death means to the world.

Condemnation is justified for all who would believe such a thing.

This argument by man is the peak of man’s twistedness and you can almost feel Paul’s frustration leap out at you and strike you with a 2 x 4!




Summary of passage:  After having just warned the Romans that what matters is the heart and just because you are outwardly obeying doesn’t mean you have salvation, Paul comforts the Jews, saying that they are God’s chosen people and God is still faithful to them and to His promises to them.


3a)  Part personal Question.  My answer:  The Jews of the day (as we discussed last lesson in Day 4 & Day 5) believed they were superior to others because they were chosen by God and they were circumcised.  They thought they could do whatever they wanted (sin-wise) and still receive salvation.  Paul explained in Romans 2 this is not the case.  I don’t have any expectations in terms of spiritual advantages.  Yes, I’ve been blessed to know God since a child, but I have no expectations because of this.

b)  Part personal Question.  My answer:  They were chosen by God and before Jesus guaranteed a spot in heaven.   Imagine being chosen in pagan times before people could read and write to keep God’s words and prophecies until Jesus came.  Awesome!  Having God’s word and the Bible is a huge advantage.  We are not brainwashed as to what God says.  His words are not twisted.  We can read all He expects of us and all He desires of us and all of our comforts and His promises as well.  It’s an amazing blessing!

4)  God promised Abraham to make him and his offspring into a great nation.  He will bless them and curse all who oppose him.  God gave him the land of Canaan to live on.  He promises His people abundance.  He is our life (awesome!), the reason for being, the reason for progress.  He will always be with us and be His nation.  All of these promises still hold for the Jews.

5)  You.  Free Will.  God does not tempt anyone.

Conclusions:  Jews first.  Gentiles second.  Good lesson when we get on our high horse as a Gentile.  For me, I’m just happy He chose me too!  Order does not matter!

End Notes:  In Romans 9:4 Paul will expound more on the advantages the Jewish people have.  The Jews have a duty when God entrusted them with His word (the Old Testament).  It’s a big responsibility to disseminate it, keep it, and spread it!

Paul says just because the Jews in general have rejected Jesus doesn’t mean God has abandoned them!  God never fails His people!

Verse 4:  God cannot lie.  God does not change.  What Gods says is the Truth.




I’m sitting here, reading Romans 5:12-14 about how all of us are born in sin through Adam and thus suffer death.

For some reason, my mind went back 7 years ago to my first blog post about Bible Study Fellowship (I’ve come a LONG way since then!).

I want to say I’m proud of you.

It was rough that first year.  I was the first person to “blog” or “post” my answers for all to see.  I was called many, many names.  I can’t tell you the number of times I was told I “was ruining BSF” and how “BSF is not meant to be this way”.  One lady (whom I had to permanently delete from comments from my blog) would lambaste me repeatedly about what a terrible person I was.  I shed many a tear over my decision to do this.

But you all have hung with me, creating such a warm, inviting environment for others.  And I am eternally grateful.

This year with all the changes BSF has done I know in my heart it is partly because of you all on this forum. You all posted your thoughts, your suggestions, your ideas–and BSF has listened!  They saw the success of this forum (and the need).  They saw you!

Now, those who are home bound can finally have a class to call their own.  Or those who live hours from a class can finally get a copy of the notes online.  Can attend a satellite group nearby.  Can hear a lecture whenever they want. Can leave comments on Facebook.  Spread the word about God with a click of the share button.

All because of you!

That’s something to be proud of!  Those who need God’s Word most now have access.  And, yes, BSF is not the only place to study the Bible, but it is one of the best bible studies in the world.

BSF now has notes in Chinese and Spanish.  BSF is focusing on young people and people in developing worlds.  They are using social media to reach more and more people (fascinating article HERE in Christianity Today on BSF). People who are hungry for Christ.  And you all have a contribution to that!

We all must change or evolve or we die (we die anyways as Paul points out in this Romans passage).  And I am so grateful BSF has changed along with the times, so it doesn’t die out.  So many need God now more than ever!

Thank you, thank you, thank you all!  I wish I could give each and every one of you a hug!

Two things I would like to ask you to pray over:

2) If led, you can donate to my blog/writings as well.  There’s a donate button on my sidebar.  That money goes to supplement my income so I can continue this ministry.

God bless each and every one of you wherever you are at in your journey with Him.  He knows.  He cares.  He listens. He hears.  He loves.  He works.  All for you.  Amen!





Please either email me (email@example.com) or post your requests in the comments below.  Feel free to post praises as well.

Mine: Prayer for my husband and his new job.  Prayer for me in my job situation.  I feel like God is calling me (again) to do something else.

God bless and have a great week!



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