Lesson #1 - Paul and Rome

Due to some restructuring, I will be involved in the adult SS this coming quarter. So it looks like I'll have the opportunity to hang out here again.

It was with a heavy heart that Paul went forward to his long-expected visit to the world's metropolis. How different the circumstances from those he had anticipated! How was he, fettered and stigmatized, to proclaim the gospel? His hopes of winning many souls to the truth in Rome, seemed destined to disappointment. AA 448

At last the travelers reach Appii Forum, forty miles from Rome. As they make their way through the crowds that throng the great thoroughfare, the gray-haired old man, chained with a group of hardened-looking criminals, receives many a glance of scorn and is made the subject of many a rude, mocking jest.

Suddenly a cry of joy is heard, and a man springs from the passing throng and falls upon the prisoner's neck, embracing him with tears and rejoicing, as a son would welcome a long-absent father. Again and again is the scene repeated as, with eyes made keen by loving expectation, many discern in the chained captive the one who at Corinth, at Philippi, at Ephesus, had spoken to them the words of life.

As the warmhearted disciples eagerly flock around their father in the gospel, the whole company is brought to a standstill. The soldiers are impatient of delay, yet they have not the heart to interrupt this happy meeting; for they, too, have learned to respect and esteem their prisoner. In that worn, pain-stricken face, the disciples see reflected the image of Christ. They assure Paul that they have not forgotten him nor ceased to love him; that they are indebted to him for the joyful hope which animates their lives and gives them peace toward God. In the ardor of their love they would bear him upon their shoulders the whole way to the city, could they but have the privilege. AA 448, 449

I hope you participate not only this quarter, but in all the subsequent ones.
I think a discussion of the SS lesson during the week makes us better prepared to present/discuss it on the Sabbath.

Throughout the history of the Christian Church, Romans has played a significant role in sparking spiritual revival and reformation. It was through reading Romans that Augustine, the famous 4th century church father, surrendered his heart to Christ and became a Christian. It was the study Romans that helped Martin Luther to first understand the gospel and thus sparked the Protestant Reformation. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and the Great Awakening, also traced his conversion to understanding Romans. Paul's letter to the Romans even contributed to the spiritual reformation that occurred in the Seventh-day Adventist church with the preaching of A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner in the 1880s and 90s.

http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/theology/goodword/show_lesson.php?qid=47&lid=170

The letter to the Romans is one of the most important things ever written. Martin Luther once said the epistle to the Romans is the clearest gospel of all. This epistle is the gospel presented to the believers and is the nearest thing to a theological treatise that we have in the Bible. It is the most significant work ever produced in the field of Christian theology. No one who wants to understand the Christian gospel can neglect Paul’s letter to the Romans. The epistle is the gospel taught to believers (saints) rather than the gospel preached to non-believers (sinners). The letter deals with the basic issues in human experience: How can humanity come into right relationship with God? How can we achieve inner peace and experience moral victory? What is there to give meaning to life in the midst of suffering and to give certainty to faith in a world of evil? What is our duty to each other? What is our responsibility for the life of the world? In the letter to the Romans we have the divine answer to these questions.

http://www.lakeviewchurch.cc/series.html

Our sanctification is God's object in all His dealing with us. He has chosen us from eternity that we might be holy. ... As Christians we have pledged ourselves to fulfil the responsibilities resting on us, and to show to the world that we have a close connection with God. ...

God expects of us perfect obedience to His law. This law is the echo of His voice, saying to us, Holier, yea holier still. Desire after the fullness of the grace of Christ, yea, long--hunger and thirst--after righteousness. The promise is, "Ye shall be filled." Let your heart be filled with a longing for this righteousness. ... God has plainly stated that He expects us to be perfect, and because He expects this, He has made provision for us to be partakers of the divine nature. Only thus can we gain success in striving for eternal life. The power is given by Christ. ...

God's people are to reflect to the world the bright rays of His glory. But in order for them to do this, they must stand where these rays can fall on them. They must cooperate with God. The heart must be cleansed of all that leads to wrong. The Word of God must be read and studied with an earnest desire to gain from it spiritual power. The bread of heaven must be eaten and assimilated, becoming part of the life. Thus we gain eternal life. Thus is answered the prayer of Christ, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17.

"This is the will of God, even your sanctification." Is it your will that your desires and inclinations shall be brought into harmony with the divine mind? {OHC 213.2-7}

God has from eternity chosen men to be holy. "This is the will of God concerning you, even your sanctification." The echo of His voice comes to us, ever saying, "Holier, holier still." And ever our answer is to be, "Yes, Lord, holier still."

No man receives holiness as a birthright, or as a gift from any other human being. Holiness is the gift of God through Christ. Those who receive the Saviour become sons of God. They are His spiritual children, born again, renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Their minds are changed. With clearer vision they behold eternal realities. They are adopted into God's family, and they become conformed to His likeness, changed by His Spirit from glory to glory. From cherishing supreme love for self, they come to cherish supreme love for God and for Christ. {ST, December 17, 1902 par. 1, 2}

We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were “saints” in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are “saints” whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honours him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had talked with him, we should have said, “We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves.” Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. We are “called to be saints” by that same voice which constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian’s duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their ardour and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied until we have equalled them in heavenly character? They lived with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, “looking unto Jesus,” and our saintship will soon be apparent.

C. H. Spurgeon