Romans 11-13

[wolfpurplemoon]

An interesting metaphor, Paul says that the Gentiles he has been preaching to are wild olive branches that have been grafted onto a cultivated olive tree where natural branches have been removed. Paul is saying that they could not survive without the root of their religion so shouldn't turn against the Jews who won't convert.

God has given everyone different gifts, and these gifts must be used. It doesn't say how to work out what gift you have, just use it correctly.

Paul weaves in some instructions to follow what the government tells you to do (and pay your taxes), apparently governments are servants of God and have God's authority to deal with wrongdoers, this comes straight after telling us not to get revenge ourselves but to be nice to our enemies and let God deal with them.

Comments

[hypatiaslore.livejournal.com]

The thing I find interesting about Paul is that he is as close to a contemporary of Jesus' as any of the writers as any of the authors of the New Testament. Paul's writings were written much closer to the actual presumed lifetime of Jesus than any of the other books as well. Yet, what is much more interesting than what is included, is what is not. Considering that this man was alive at the same time as Jesus, and his goal is to educate and inspire new churches through his letters, the things he doesn't tell them about Jesus just blows my mind. I mean, these letters were written before Mathew, Mark, Luke or John. This is excepted scholarship whether you are a Christian or not.

In any of the letter's that are believed to have been written by Paul he doesn't say a word about any of Jesus' Miracles, Parables, Birth, Mary and Joseph, The Lord's Prayer(in fact, he says specifically that we don't know what we're supposed to pray for), The Transfiguration, The Sermon on the Mount, calming the Sea of Galilee, his Temple visit as a child, the journey to/from Nazareth, the trial with Pontius Pilate, Judas Iscariot’s betrayal, Gethsemane, and the most shocking exclusion, the thing I can't believe wasn't written about by people everywhere and in paintings and songs and stories, of course, but he is completely silent about is the ascension.

I mean, he hung out with Jesus' brothers after his conversion, even though he didn't meet the other disciples until later. So he would have heard the stories about when Jesus was a boy, and about his life and death, especially if he was supposedly charged with spreading the gospel by Jesus himself on the road to Demascus. You'd think he'd had been trying to find out every detail he could and including as much as possible.

[princessellie0.livejournal.com]

We are to pay our taxes and obey the law of the land as long as it does not go against Gods laws, the reasoning behind this is that Christians are not to be seen as trouble makers, we are humble and live to serve God, money and earthly things are to hold no weight to us for God says he will provide if we are in need.