⁣For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Romans 4:14 ESV

Does this mean that anyone who tries to keep the Law of Moses is automatically disinherited by God? Of course, not! As Paul wrote, "I wouldn't have known that coveting is wrong if the Law had not said, 'Do not covet.'"

Obedience to God's commandments, even if they were given through Moses, is a good thing so long as you don't think that you can earn salvation by them.

This is an excerpt from the weekly Bible study at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) with Jay Carper from American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

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⁣Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness...
Romans 4:4-5 ESV

Forgiveness of sins and eternal life are gifts of God, granted by his grace alone. Nobody can buy or work their way into eternal life. Eliezer, Ishmael, and Isaac make a great illustration of God's plan.

Eliezer was Abraham's chief servant. He worked for Abraham his whole life, helping him build his wealth and watch out for his family. If Abraham had died without children, Eliezer would have been his heir according to the traditions of man. He was a faithful servant, but his inheritance would have been the wages of his own efforts.

Ishmael was Abraham's firstborn son according to the flesh. However, he was also the son of a slave. If Abraham had not had another son by a free wife, Ishmael would have inherited God's covenant as Abraham's firstborn, displacing Eliezer, in accordance with the laws of both man and biology.

Isaac was a child of promise, conceived through miraculous intervention. Sarah's time in Abimelech's house might cast a shadow over Isaac's right of inheritance as Abraham's biological son, but God's decree overrides anything man might do. Isaac inherited the covenant promises of Abraham because God intervened and made it happen, apart from any natural or man-made law, and Abraham believed him.

This is an image of our salvation, which is granted by divine intervention according to our belief in God's promises.

See also Genesis 15:1-5 and Genesis 17:15-21.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

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⁣No, you can't earn your salvation, and you can't make him save you. Your eternal fate is solely at God's discretion. He adopts us as sons or he doesn't. However, God has told us that he will save or condemn us based on our faith in him and also that we can be disinherited for rejecting him. There is no contradiction in this with anything in Romans. It is not a "salvation by works" or "salvation by merit" soteriology. God the when, if, and how of your salvation, no matter what you do or believe.

There is a lot of truth in both Calvinism and Arminianism, but just like every other -ism, neither is complete, because they both try to fit God into a brain-sized box.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

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⁣Paul's Epistle to the Romans is ground zero for the Calvinism vs Arminianism debate. Does God choose who will believe? Or does he choose those who believe? Does it even matter in any tangible way?

This is an excerpt from an online study of Romans at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com).

From Jay Carper at American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

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⁣
It doesn't matter
what the Jews have done nor what antisemites say about them. If God didn't
keep his promises to Israel, to the physical descendants of Jacob, what kind
of God would he be? How could we trust him to keep any of his promises? Or
not to change the rules whenever he felt like it? The only hope of
forgiveness for sins to escape eternal damnation lies in God's character as a
promise keeper.

⁣For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
Romans 2:25 ESV

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
Galatians 5:6 ESV

We know that Paul was not completely opposed to circumcision because he said so and he circumcised Timothy himself. So how can we reconcile these seemingly conflicting statements? The answer is in the statements themselves: faith and obedience.

This is an excerpt fromt he weekly Bible Study at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) with Jay Carper from American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

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⁣For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
Romans 2:12 ESV

Paul and John said that the Law defines sin, so how is it possible for people who have never known the Law to be guilty of sin? Actually, all people know enough of the Law to be guilty of breaking it. The Law is in our DNA and all people know most of it without ever having to be told.

From Jay Carper (https://www.AmericanTorah.com) and the Common Sense Bible Study crew (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com).

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⁣We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?
Romans 2:2-3 ESV

What exactly is the "judgment of God" in this passage?

From the weekly online Bible study at Common Sense Bible Study- (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com).

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⁣Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:22-23 ESV

If there is a single, ultimate Creator of the universe, then he logically must be infinitely powerful, infinitely wise. He would be terrifying beyond our imagination with standards higher than we could ever reach...so we set our sights lower. We ignore the Creator and worship creatures because they don't demand anything too big. We can make them weak and flawed, just like us, and then pat ourselves on the back for how great we are.

This is an excerpt from the weekly, members-only Bible study at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com).

From Jay Carper at American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

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⁣I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
Romans 1:14 ESV

The world is chaos and our assignment is to bring spiritual order by restoring people to their Creator. When God gives you a task, he necessarily gives you the authority required to carry out that task. Always keep in mind that such authority is never inherent in the person and that it is always given for the benefit of the Kingdom of God and its citizens.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

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⁣Understanding who wrote a book of the Bible and why can really help you understand the book itself. In our first week looking at Paul's Epistle to the Romans, I talk about Paul's history up to this point and what was happening in his life and in Rome that prompted him to write.

This is from an online, interactive Bible study at Common Sense Bible Study on Thursday, July 13, 2023. We will be working our way through the entire book on Thursday nights. Participation is free (unless we start getting a bunch of trolls), but you have to be a member. You can join at https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com.

⁣From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

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⁣In Romans 1:1 Paul said that he was commissioned to preach the Gospel of God, but what exactly is the "Gospel"? Don't just assume you know what it means. Verse 2 points us in the right direction: It was promised beforehand through the Prophets of the Old Testament.

I apologize for some of the background noise. That wasn't there during our Bible study session, so I don't know what caused it.

This is an excerpt from the weekly Bible study at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) with Jay Carper from American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

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⁣God said "ABOVE ALL, you will keep my Sabbaths." If your spouse made a date with you and said it was really important to your marriage, would you brush it off? Then why brush off a date with your Creator?

⁣God said that the Sabbath is a special sign of the faith of his people. Do you believe him?

⁣Most Christians believe in keeping the Ten Commandments...except for that pesky Fourth one. God said that the Sabbath is very important to him and he doesn't change, so why do we ignore that one commandment?

⁣God's Law defines justice, so whatever does not align with God's Law is unjust.

⁣Does God help those who help themselves? If they are helping themselves to accomplish his will, yes, he does.

⁣When Joshua's spies made a covenant with Rahab, they went beyond the letter of their commission, but not the spirit of it because they knew Joshua's character. Just as with these spies, whenever we do anything in Yeshua's name, we are claiming to do it in accordance with his character and will. Be careful that you aren't taking his name in vain.