May 24, 2022
1SAMUEL 13:
In
yesterday's story, God's Spirit came powerfully upon the new king
Saul, and he succeeded in mobilizing all of Israel's fighting men.
They won a stunning victory over king Nahash and the Ammonites.
Afterward, Samuel led the people in renewing Israel's call to Saul
to be king and then Samuel confronted them all about staying true
to the Lord.
PSALM 97:
Even
though the psalms (and our translations) may cast a verse in the
present tense, the intent of the writer may be about future things.
Hebrew is very fuzzy as to verb tense. But also we may consider
that all times are present to the Lord, and the psalmist may see
things as happening or already happening in his vision that refer
to future events. We see an example of this in today’s
psalm.
ROMANS 4b:
The
new way of being made right with God by means of fully believing
which Paul has been talking about, is it a new religion, or is it
based on the past? It is based on the past. We follow Abraham's
example of believing, and this also fulfills the prophetic promises
given to Abraham. Not only that, but we become heirs to the same
promises. And note: Paul uses questions to propel his logical
arguments all the way through Romans— just like I did at the start
of this paragraph.
GNT Translation
notes:
Rom.
4:11 He was circumcised later, and his circumcision was a sign to
show that because of his [believing//faith] [before he had been
circumcised//0] God had accepted him as righteous [0//before he had
been circumcised]. And so Abraham is the spiritual father of all
who believe in God and are accepted as righteous by him, even
though they are not circumcised.
12
He is also the father of those who are circumcised, that is, of
those who, in addition to being circumcised, also live the same
life of [believing//faith] that our father Abraham lived before he
was circumcised.
14
For if what God promises is to be given to those who obey the Law,
then [our believing//faith] means nothing and God's promise is
worthless.
16 And so the promise was based on
[believing//faith], in order that the promise should be guaranteed
as God's free gift to all of Abraham's descendants—not just to
those who obey the Law, but also to those who believe as Abraham
did. For Abraham is the spiritual father of us all;
17 as the scripture says, “I have made you
father of many nations.” So the promise is [valid//good] in the
sight of God, in whom Abraham believed—the God who brings the dead
to life and whose command brings into being what did not
exist.
20 His [did not waver in his
believing//faith did not leave him], and he did not doubt God's
promise; his [believing//faith] filled him with power, and he gave
praise to God.
22 That is why Abraham, through
[believing//faith], “was accepted as righteous by God.”