Session 79: Introduction to Paul’s letters, and Romans 1:1-1:27

In Paul’s letters, he frequently uses each of the 3 words that Christians disagree on the meaning of:  “Faith”, “Works“, and “Believe.”  We must look at ALL of Paul’s writings to determine what he means by each of these terms.  (We can’t pull out an isolated verse and build an entire theology on that verse!!)

We will see that Paul emphasizes salvation through Grace , through faith as demonstrated by our works. (To further confuse things, Paul sometimes refers to Works as what we would call “good deeds”,  and other times he refers to Works as keeping Jewish Laws, such as circumcision for males, Jewish Dietary Laws, Jewish Cleanliness Laws, and Jewish Traditions. 

It’s essential to know which of these 2 types of “Works” he’s talking about to avoid radically different theologies of salvation.  (We’ll cover them as they come up.)

1:20 Perhaps the easiest points to make for the existence of God are observing what has been created, and the complexity, order and interdependence of creation.  (To think that everything is  merely random chance requires more “faith” than I have!!)

1:24-27 Paul comments about the sinful ACT of homosexuality.  (Not to be confused with same-sex ATTRACTION, which in itself is not a sin.)  See CCC paragraphs (all 3 of them) 2357, 2358, and 2359.