Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey family. Welcome to Romans. Come on. We're in a brand new book of the Bible. I say this every day. Keep. Okay, if you have not done today's reading, which is chapters one and two of the book of Romans, just go ahead, pause this video, pause this audio, go do the reading so that what we're talking about actually makes sense. We're going to dive right in to some context clues. I want to give you context really for the entire book of Romans, but this is really going to help us in Romans chapters one and two. Okay, so here we go, here we go. Here's some context clues in AD51. There's a massive event that happens in AD51 that is actually going to be the catalyst for the book of romans. Okay? In AD 51, Emperor Claudius expels all Jews from Rome. Now we know from Acts chapter two that there were visitors from Rome there on the day of Pentecost. So the Jewish church in Rome and they go back to Rome and they start churches. Well, who was there at Acts chapter two? These are Jewish believers, okay? These are Jewish believers in the Messiah. And so the church in Rome has a very, very Jewish foundation. So all the way from Acts chapter two, we know that there are visitors from Rome. They bring the gospel back to Rome. And these Jewish believers carry the gospel back back to Rome and they start churches. They start house churches. Well, in A.D. 51, so the church in Rome has been kicking and going for a couple of decades, maybe two decades. And now Emperor Claudius has expelled all Jews from Rome, leaving Gentile believers behind. The Jews are probably expelled from rome anywhere from four to six years, maybe even seven years. Okay? @ the very beginning of Emperor Nero, Pharaoh's reign, he allows Jews to come back into Rome. And you can imagine that this is kind of awkward, okay? Like the old worship leader from five years ago is back. The old deacon from four years ago is back. That there's all these Jews that made up the foundation of this church in Rome have been gone. And these are the people who understand the Torah. These are the people who understand God's law. These are the people who would even understand a book like Romans. They understand the Hebrew scriptures. These are the people who are the leaders of the church in Rome? In four, four, five, six, seven years, they're gone, okay? They've been expelled from Rome. And so Gentiles have been left to their own devices, and they've been left to grow the church and grow their faith without Jewish influence. That means without anyone telling them about dietary restrictions or circumcision or Sabbath or keeping certain days holy. And so now Jews have come back, and they're coming back to a church that they don't really recognize. There are Gentile believers who are now leaders. They're Gentile believers who have now changed the fabric of what this church was like. And as you can imagine, that just creates an awkward tension. Not only does it create tension, but it's gonna create the foundation of the division. That really sparks Paul wanting to write a letter to this group. We know from Acts, chapter 18 that Priscilla and Aquila are part of these Jews that have been expelled from Rome. Okay? And so Paul knows the Roman Christians. He's not unfamiliar with this church or this group of churches, but this is not a church that he directly plants, okay? So his tone is going to be a lot different than books like 1 Corinthians, where he is the apostle, he is the person that planted the church. His tone is going to be different. And so, Paul. This is not. Okay, here. Here we go. This is my first. Like, I'm going to kind of say something a little provocative or controversial. This is not a theological essay. Now, there's a lot of theology in the book of Romans, but this is not first and foremost an essay or treatise on theology. There's a ton of theology. And for a lot of us, really, the thing that makes reading Romans difficult is your reading or me. I. You. We are reading Romans through the lens of John Calvin, or reading Romans through the lens of Martin Luther, or reading Romans through the lens of the Reformation. And I, in the next couple of days, really want to ground us not in the theological frameworks that we could overlay on the Book of Romans, but really want to get into the content and the context of the Greco Roman world and what Paul is actually addressing from chapters one through 16. So with all that in mind, okay, we want to look at chapters one and two and go. All right, what is Paul talking about? Okay, when we get to chapter one, Paul's really going to address three groups. The first group that Paul's going to address is what we would call the Gentile pagan. Paul's got a lot of things to say to the Gentile pagan. Then second group that Paul's going to address, what we would call the Gentile moralists. These would actually be Gentile believers. And then the third group that Paul's gonna address are Jewish believers, Jewish Christians. Okay, here's what Paul has to say to the Gentile pagan. In Romans chapter 1, verses 18, all the way to verses 32, Paul is going to outline that the pagan Gentiles are guilty before God. And he's going to outline how a godless and secular mindset leads to destruction and depravity. Really kind of the linchpin of this argument can be found in verses like verse 26. It's going to say something like this. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lust. Even their women exchange natural relations for unnatural ones. Paul's dropping a bomb here. He's actually saying that the Greco Roman world is so depraved and is so antithetical and so guilty before God that the pinnacle of that is actually found in homosexual practice or homosexual behavior. Not homosexual feelings, not homosexual temptation, but homosexual behavior. Now, Romans, chapter one, verse 26. Here's our nerdy nugget for the day. Romans chapter one, verse 26 is huge because there are six places in the entire biblical canon that address homosexuality. But Romans chapter 1, verse 26 is the only place in the entire Bible that addresses lesbian behavior. Women and women. Now, Manny, why is this so important? Well, that's important because there are a lot of scholars and a lot of people with a gay affirming argument or stance when it comes to scripture that will say that you cannot compare homosexuality today with homosexuality in the Greco Roman world. That these are totally different context and there is some validity there. Here is the validity. What they're gonna say is that in the Greco Roman world, so much of homosexual practice is exploitative that it comes in the form, in two forms. Either prostitution, which is exploitative, or pederasty, or pederasty, which is an older man with a younger boy, which is exploitative. Okay? Which is pedophilia. So prostitution and pedophilia or pederasty are all exploitative forms of homosexual practice. And really, like, there's no connection between this exploitative act and a loving, monogamous homosexual relationship. And that argument has some validity. But Romans chapter one, verse 26 kind of blows that argument out of the water because the lesbian relationships are not exploitative. Lesbian relationships fall outside of the bounds of prostitution or pederasty or pedophilia. Lesbian relationships in the Greco Roman world were love based Monogamous based, non exploitative relationships. And Paul still says that this is the pinnacle of depravity. That what happens when you make man the measure of all things, which is what Roman or Greco Roman paganism is built on, is that man turns inward and creates an idol of himself, that even that which is opposite him, he or she is no longer attracted to. And God gives us over to this kind of depravity. And so Paul proves through Romans chapter 1, verse 18, to Romans chapter 1, verse 32, that the Roman pagan, the Greco Roman pagan is guilty before God. Then we kind of switch. Okay, and now From Romans chapter 2, verse 1 to Romans chapter 2, verse 16, Paul outlines how the Gentile, not the Gentile pagan, but the Gentile moralist, the good person, the I don't know why I need to surrender my life to Jesus because I'm a good person. How that person is also guilty before a righteous God. He's going to say this in Romans chapter two, verse three. So when you, a mere human, pass judgment on them, them mean meaning pagans, and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? And, and then In Romans chapter 2, verse 17, all the way to chapter 2, verse 29, Paul outlines how the Jews are guilty before God because they've broken the Torah. What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that, that we designed to help people, everyday people learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community. A community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd. So you can imagine each group as Paul is addressing one group the other two groups going, yeah, get them, Paul. Get them. Amen. Yep, they're wrong. And then Paul turns his attention to that group, and you can imagine how the other groups are like, yeah, get them, Paul. And meanwhile, the Jews are standing on the sidelines like, yeah, you tell those Gentiles. You tell the Gentile pagans. Yeah, you tell the Gentile moralists or the Gentile believers. And then finally, Paul points to the Jews and he says, actually, you are more guilty than any other group because you've had the truth, you've had the Torah, you've had the very words of God, and you still haven't fully accepted. Not only is the pagan guilty, not only is the gentile believer or moralist guilty, not only is the Jew guilty, but every single person is guilty. So I gave you guys a lot of context, gave you guys some nerdy nuggets. Here's the timeless truth for the day. We all stand guilty before God, and we're all in dire need of his grace and compassion. Chapter two kind of leaves us on this cliffhanger where Paul has not spoken about the grace of God yet. But guess what? That's coming in chapter three, our timeless truth for the day. Our big takeaway is to compare our morality or righteousness to others will always lead to pride in and of ourselves. The only one we should compare ourselves to is a holy God. God says, of course, if you compare yourself to the pagan, of course, if you compare yourself to the moralist, you look amazing. But when we put you on the backdrop of my holiness, we realize that you are just as sinful as everybody else. We Romans, chapter one and two are designed to create a level playing field. We all have sinned, and we've all fallen short of God's glory. But I'm getting ahead of myself. That is a verse from tomorrow's reading, but you can naturally see how that's where Paul is leading. Hey, I hope our context clues were helpful for today. Hope our nerdy nugget was helpful for today. And I hope our timeless truth was helpful. As you read Romans chapter one and two tomorrow, we got Romans chapter three and four. And I'll see you right here. So proud of you. Love you guys. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.