Paul's Admonition Series

God set up the Hebrew nation and how it should operate! God set up the priesthood and how it should operate! God instructed how worship was to take place and how the nation was to relate to those outside their nation… to the ‘foreigners or Gentiles’

But, by the time of Jesus (1st Century) the Jews had developed a sense of entitlement and superiority within their hearts. In fact, the term “Gentile” was not just a term for a non-Jew, but Gentiles were thought of along the lines of a stray dog, or wild animal… In the Jewish mindset, the Gentile was not even on God’s radar… to the average Jew, the Gentile was worthless in the eyes of God.

Likewise, they believed that God felt the same way about the Gentiles, and because they believed God agreed with them, their hearts were hardened and their attitudes and actions toward Gentiles was arrogant and judgmental… Then along comes this man named Jesus!

Jesus tore away and broke down every stronghold of their prejudice and prideful hearts… He told people that God loved all people and that God’s salvation was for any who would believe in Him… This infuriated the Jews and they rose up against Jesus. Jesus was crucified by the Romans based upon the outcry of Jewish religious leaders… but all within the sovereign plan of God!

Jesus died on the cross for the sin of the world and the disciples began to spread the Gospel of Christ. WE can read through the book of Acts (and we have been studying that on Sunday nights)and we can see just how the word was being spread by the disciples in those early years of the church…

When we get to Acts 9 there is a story about a man who WAS one of these Jewish religious leaders who believed the Jews were God’s people and all others were simply dogs and worthy only of God’s wrath, which he believed was his duty to make happen and so he persecuted the church.

Then, on the road to Damascus, Jesus intervened in a supernatural way and Saul of Taursus is gloriously saved and renamed by God…Paul! Paul is called by Jesus to a very specific calling… God calls Paul to take the message of the Gospel (the Good News) to the GENTILES!

To us who are NOT Jewish this was and still IS very good news! It is the love of God being shown to ALL people… but to Paul and to the Jews of the 1st century, the idea of telling the Gentiles about God’s love for them was unheard of and, to be honest, unacceptable to any self-respecting, God fearing Jew… the Gentiles were dogs unworthy of God’s love…

Paul listens to Jesus’ calling and begins to preach to the Gentiles and MANY came to faith in Jesus Christ through his ministry. The disciples were actually skeptical at first but eventually through the testimony and witness of Peter came to understand that God DID love them and WAS offering salvation to them…

So, when Paul wrote this letter to the Roman church he begins it by revealing his TRUE joy in thankfulness, service and full faith & trust in God. Then in the remainder of chapter 1 Paul directs his comment toward the Gentiles and how God’s wrath is going to fall on them because of their sinful hearts and unrighteous they are… Paul tells them they are without excuse because the glory of God is evident all around them… Paul really lets the Gentiles have it!