Joshua Boyd
Chapter 3 Cont – The Fairness of God
When we read Romans, remembering that originally it was a letter written to believers – a correspondence from Paul to a group of people. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is preaching the good news to them – and us – in the letter, telling us in chapter 1 how important it is to accept and worship God as Creator.
In chapter 2, he commands us not to judge. Just as Jesus did. No one is worthy enough to be the judge, not even a Jewish person. Paul, a Jew of the Jews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, tells the Jews that one is not a true Jew because of birth or the ceremony of circumcision, but one is a true Jew whose heart is right with God.
The theme of our passages today is God’s fairness. This is something to meditate on. God is completely fair and absolutely right. We might easily say “amen” hearing that. But when compare what goes on in the world today, if we believe that everything that happens is God’s will for it to happen, we have trouble reconciling that God is fair and right. Not everything that happens in the world is God’s will. Death, destruction and innocent suffering are not from God. They are the result of sin and those who reject God in their lives.
