Romans 7:15-25a

A sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

In this season of Pentecost we have been looking at the Book of Romans with the counterfoil of the Gospel of Matthew. Paul writes in Romans 3-6 that we are free from sin and death. That comes out most directly in 6:5 in that remarkable verse: “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” That is repeated in Romans 6:8 and 11. Having gone that far, we ask: “In that case, am I secure forever? Nothing can happen? I don’t sin anymore”? It says in 1 John 3:6, and 9 that the Christian never sins: “No one who abides in Him sins” (1 John 3:6). And “No one born of God sins” (1 John 3:9). We may think we have eternal security. After all, there it is in the Bible

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(Romans 5:12-15 is not in the current lectionary; we offer this in place of the assigned text, Romans 6:12-23.)

A sermon on Romans 5:12-15

In this season of Pentecost we’ve been asking: What is the problem? And then the two answers people give which are not answers; they are one: “Good works,” and two: “Everybody is saved anyway.”

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A sermon for the Fifth Sunday of the Season of Pentecost

Romans 6:1-11        

In this season of Pentecost we have been focusing on the Book of Romans. We have seen that Romans chapters 3-5 are all about the cross. We have seen the huge importance that it is all done. The solution is an objective kind of thing. It is symbolized by that verse in the Gospel of John – 19:30: “It is finished.” The work of the cross is done – for us. That is settled.

Now we come to the question: What are the effects of the cross? What about in us and to us now? This chapter Romans 6:1-ll says it is to us and for us and in us now in Baptism. Romans 6:5 states: “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (As we know, the Greek idiom requires the word “certainly.”) We are confident in the hope that we have

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Romans 5:1-8

A sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

As we move into the season of Pentecost, we ask ourselves: What is the problem? That is what Paul describes in Romans 1-3. The problem has two levels. On one level is idolatry. The other level is sin and death. We have the problem that we think we can judge sin. This is not about judging sin in others; we think we can judge sin in ourselves. That is the original sin and that is the problem. We can’t imagine that we’re the problem. We judge ourselves, and we imagine that we are O.K. Paul expressly says “No” in 1 Cor 4:3-5: “I do not even judge myself. . . It is the Lord who judges me.”

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A sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost

In this season of Pentecost we ask: What is the problem? The problem is that we are worse off than we think. There is nothing in us, in ourselves, that can save us. We are caught in sin and death and even though we can’t quite take it that there’s nothing in us, there isn’t.

Two huge objections come up: Today we’ll deal with the first one and that is, of course: Good works. After all, good works are good. That’s common sense. What do we mean by “good works?”

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