Replies

BK - “I am aware that the old law condemned all who did not have the law.”

Romans is a New Testament book, written to the church.

Romans 1:7 “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.”

BK - “This is the reason for the new law, by which Christ himself broke the gates of hell, to free the righteous.”

Romans 3:10 - as it is written “None is righteous, no, not one;”

BK - “Abraham believed in God, and so it was credited to him as righteousness.”

This is a twisting of the text, which actually reads:

“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” - Romans 4:3

There is a HUGE difference between believing IN God and believing God.

Believing IN God, will save no one. Believing God, in Abraham’s case meant believing the promises of God; ultimately, believing that God would Himself provide a way of redemption for sinners through the Messiah.

For us, believing God means believing that God has completely provided the way of salvation for us in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our’s through faith, just as Abraham was saved by faith.

BK - “Any Gentile who does not know God, who obeys his conscience will be saved by the Grace of our Lord and saviour.”

Romans 3:23-25a - “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood TO BE RECEIVED BY FAITH.”

Christ is the propitiation ONLY for those who receive Him by faith.

Romans 3:28 “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

Romans 10:14-15 - “But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Romans 10:17 - “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

John 8:24 - “ I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

1. Faith is necessary for salvation.
2. Faith comes through hearing the Word.
3. Without hearing the Word, faith is impossible.
4. Without faith in Christ, man will die in his sins.

BK - “Our God can save those whom he will save.”

True.

BK - “he can read the hearts of the righteous”

As I’ve already shown from Romans3, there are none righteous - NO NOT ONE.

Genesis 6:5 - “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Jeremiah 17:9 - “The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately sick;
who can understand it?

BK - “The reason we have a conscience is so that those who are without the law still have knowledge of the law. Thus those who are without the law are condemned by their conscience, or saved by their conscience.”

Romans 2 has nothing to say about being saved, it is all condemnation. Romans 2:6 is written to shut the mouths of those who think they are righteous.

Romans 2:6-8 - “He will render to each one according to his works: (hard swallow) to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;(nobody does - Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10, etc...) but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey righteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”