Margarita S. Resuelo
GE 10 – BB

📄[Reflection]: Paul’s Letter to the Romans Chapter 4-6 (NRSV)

Romans 4

Highlighting a pivotal point in Abraham’s life, this chapter uses Abraham’s story to reflect on the concept of faith and good works. Going back to the famous story; Sarah, barren and already at a very advanced age considered precarious for childbirth, miraculously was able to bear a child all due to Abraham’s faith and belief in God. Thus cementing the importance and the centrality of Faith in our spiritual journey and how, through our faith, even in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances, we are saved. Though it is somewhat contradictory to the teaching of how “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17), I do think this chapter does not go against it rather, supplements it. Our righteousness comes from and through our faith and it is this faith that allows us to see and do the marvelous works we offer to the Lord. It is through faith, first, that we become enlightened to do good – it is the precursor but not the only requirement.

Romans 5

This chapter divulges the power and extensive scope of God’s grace and love for all His creation. It reconciles the notion of justification through faith, how when we believe that Christ has died and risen for us, so that we may also overcome sin and death, we will be saved. It reminds us how God’s love surpasses all our shortcomings and sins, and that we need not fret as to where the limits of his kindness towards us are drawn. I especially find it so beautiful how the chapter words out what suffering does to us – how it builds endurance and resilience, how it molds our character and the very fiber of our existence, how it allows us to genuinely hope, and how this hope of ours draws us closer to God for “hope does not disappoint us” in the slightest.

Romans 6

Perfectly tying up the trio altogether, this chapter encapsulates the true transformative power of God’s love personified in Jesus Christ. His crucifixion and death had allowed us to overcome our own lapses and sinful ways so that we may also be reborn in righteousness and light and as such, it is futile to only hope and pray. Being reborn in Jesus Christ entails being transformed in the spirit and grace of God and as such, this kindness bestowed on us becomes not a license so that we may sin all we want and simply await God’s forgiveness anew; it is a calling to live the good life rooted in His teachings. This is beautifully dictated in how because Jesus died to sin and was risen to live in God, we, too, ought to break away from our sinful tendencies and habits to live a new life in holiness. It is a symbolic analogy to how our “old” selves, which were dominated by sin, are gone and that we are no longer slaves to evil or fear, rather we are free from it in accordance to the grace of God. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).