David Bahn – Reflections

Today’s readings are Romans 7; Deuteronomy 5; Psalm 1; 1 Kings 21; 2 Kings 10. I’ll be away for the next few weeks. I will, however, attempt to post a link to the readings for the 49 Week Bible Challenge so you can follow the plan easily. During this time there will be no audio versions of these blog posts.

Romans 7:14-24

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! .

St. Augustine – the 5th Century reluctant convert to Christianity – is famously to have said, “Give me chastity, but not right now.” He was living a profligate life while his mother was praying fervently for his conversion. God answered that prayer and Augustine became a great figure in the Early Church, impacted deeply by Paul’s letter to the Romans. Augustine delighted in God’s grace but didn’t see it anymore after his conversion as an excuse for sin.

Many would identify themselves with Augustine in thanking God for his amazing grace. So how is it that we still struggle with sin? We who are no longer under God’s law and who live under God’s grace still battle with temptation and fall prey to the lure of sin and Satan. We read these words of Paul in Romans 7 and say, “That’s me!” The good we would do we do not do. The very evil we hate we do.

The surest sign that we are not fully awake to God’s holiness and our sinfulness is if we claim not to have to fight battles against temptation. The greatest evidence that we have been brought to faith and have the Holy Spirit within us is that we struggle with sin and temptation.

Still it is a battle. And we rightly wish we didn’t have to fight the war. But there is deliverance. And One Day we will be fully delivered – thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ! So, don’t give up the fight!

Today’s readings are Romans 6; Psalm 119:129-136; Proverbs 10; Ezekiel 18. I’ll be away for the next few weeks. I will, however, attempt to post a link to the readings for the 49 Week Bible Challenge so you can follow the plan easily. During this time there will be no audio versions of these blog posts.

Romans 6:1-11

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

More sin? More grace. That’s the message of Romans 5:20. Then comes the logical question, “If there is so much more grace than sin, why not sin more so that we may receive more grace?” We know better than to buy into that idea. We know sin is destructive. We know that sin kills. And although grace abounds more than sin, we know better than to follow the false logic of gaining grace by sinning more.

Paul’s answer to the false notion is not that grace won’t abound, it’s because we’ve died to sin. We know it’s danger and deception. We also know the grace of God. And we want to live in that grace.

So comes the conclusion by which we live in grace: So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. It’s a matter of intentionally embracing God’s grace, considering ourselves to be God’s people, alive in the grace and goodness of God.

Today’s readings are Romans 5; Nahum 2; 2 Samuel 14; 18. I’ll be away for the next few weeks. I will, however, attempt to post a link to the readings for the 49 Week Bible Challenge so you can follow the plan easily. During this time there will be no audio versions of these blog posts.

Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

When you see “therefore,” you need to stop to see what it’s there for. And in this case this therefore, it is a hinge on which great weights of significance swing. The implications of being justified by faith sets up all manner of moral and spiritual implications. Because we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God, we rejoice in hope – even in the face of trials and tribulations – and we stand in grace.

In other words we never have to do anything to gain God’s favor. But since we have been justified by faith and stand in grace there are implications. This is not just a state of grace, it is a launchpad for grateful and faithful life.

One of my professors in seminary made the appeal to translate the “we have” as “let us have.” Romans 5:1 contains a textual variant that affects whether Paul is making an indicative statement (“we have peace”) or issuing a hortatory/cohortative exhortation (“let us have peace”). This is one of the classic examples in textual criticism where a single vowel changes the sense of the verb. Note well, however, that this does not change a teaching of Scripture or undercut the gospel in any way. But it does provide a nuance worth considering.

So today I will rejoice in my tribulations (they are very few at this moment), and live in peace with God. Not in order to be right with God, but because God has put me right with him through faith in his Son, Jesus, my Lord and God.

Today’s readings are Romans 3; Psalm 5; 10; 14; 53. I’ll be away for the next few weeks. I will, however, attempt to post a link to the readings for the 49 Week Bible Challenge so you can follow the plan easily. During this time there will be no audio versions of these blog posts.

Romans 3:11-26

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The Roman Road is an evangelism tool that summarizes the message of the Gospel through passages from the book of Romans. It starts here in chapter 3 and includes these five passages:

1. Romans 3:23 — Everyone has sinned.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Humanity’s universal problem: no one meets God’s standard.

2. Romans 6:23 — Sin brings death, but God gives life.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Sin earns death; God gives life as a gift through Christ.

3. Romans 5:8 — God shows his love by giving Christ for sinners.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God takes the initiative; salvation is an act of grace.

4. Romans 10:9–10 — Salvation comes through confessing and believing.

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Faith in Christ’s lordship and resurrection is the means of salvation.

5. Romans 10:13 — The promise is open to all.

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

The gospel is for everyone, without distinction.

These truths are essnetial and foundational to our faith in Christ. And there is one more:

Romans 10:14-17 — The message must be shared with others, so that according to God’s good will, all will be saved by grace through faith by preaching the word of Christ.

How then will they 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? ¹⁵ 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!” ¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Today’s readings are Romans 2; Psalm 62; Isaiah 52; Jeremiah 4; Joshua 5. I’ll be away for the next few weeks. I will, however, attempt to post a link to the readings for the 49 Week Bible Challenge so you can follow the plan easily. During this time there will be no audio versions of these blog posts.

Romans 2:1-5

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ² We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. ³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

We humans are a conundrum, a paradox in our being. We are created in the image of God, glorious and noble. Yet we are fallen creatures: sinful, rebellious, and blind to our own depravity.

The clearest expression of the latter is our propensity to see ourselves as righteous, justified in our actions and good in our core, while seeing the faults and failures in others. Self-righteous and other-condemning.

Paul leans into this here in Romans 2. In chapter 1 he mentions obviously deplorable behavior – sexual indecency of every kind. But right along with that list of deplorable behavior he lists disobedience to parents and even a failure to thank God and honor him as we should. There is no one righteous. Not even one (cf. Psalm 53:1-3).

Yet God is kind. Kind! Loving. Gracious. Abounding in steadfast love. Merciful and good. All this should lead us to repentance. Every one of us needs to repent of our sins. And everyone of us can be certain of God’s mercy, grace, forgiveness and kindness in the face of our repentance. When we turn to God we need not worry about facing further chastisement.

God welcomes all who come to him in repentant faith. I hope you will go with me in that spirit today.

Today’s readings are Romans 1:26-32; Judges 19; 20; 21. I’ll be away for the next few weeks. I will, however, attempt to post a link to the readings for the 49 Week Bible Challenge so you can follow the plan easily. During this time there will be no audio versions of these blog posts.

Judges 21:25

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Our guide in Uruguay was bragging on the progressive character of the nation. Indeed, Uruguay has long been one of the most socially progressive nations in South America. It was the first country in the world to fully legalize and regulate recreational marijuana (2013), and it has permitted no-fault divorce since the early twentieth century. Uruguay recognized women’s political rights in its 1917 constitution, implemented national suffrage by decree in 1932, and women voted in national elections beginning in 1938, making it one of the earliest adopters in the region. The country legalized abortion 2012, and in 2025 it became one of the first in Latin America to legalize euthanasia. Uruguay is often cited as the most secular country in Latin America.

Quite a source of social pride! And a sad commentary about what happens when people abandon God. A society without God loses its moral compass. When “everyone does what is right in his own eyes,” human selfishness takes over. Judges 19 is a biblical picture of what happens when God’s word is ignored. Accountability collapses, power is misused, and people are treated as objects.

Today’s readings from Judges 19–21 show with sobering force that the wages of sin is death. This is not only true of the pagan nations, but of Israel itself. These chapters remind us that no one stands righteous on their own; we all stand in need of a Savior.

These are deeply sorrowful chapters in the story of God’s people. Yet even here, God’s patience, grace, and mercy shine through. He did not sweep Israel away in judgment but remained faithful to his promise to redeem his people – a promise fulfilled in Christ.

Today’s readings are Romans 1:1-25; Habakkuk 2; Psalm 106; Jeremiah 13. I’ll be away for the next few weeks. I will, however, attempt to post a link to the readings for the 49 Week Bible Challenge so you can follow the plan easily. During this time there will be no audio versions of these blog posts.

Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The gospel changes lives. It changes rebellious and wayward lives to obedient and humble lives. It changes people from asleep to the goodness of God to awake to his tender mercies. It brings life from death.

The law may quell disobedient behavior for a time. Shame may stifle immodesty. Fear may hem in temptation’s abandonment.

But love, grace, mercy, and kindness brings us God’s peace and joy, for it brings us to faith. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. It’s a gift of faith from first to last. Because we believe we share the message of Jesus. Through that sharing others are brought to faith in Jesus. Salvation is from faith for faith.

I hope somehow to have passed this on to family, friends, church members, neighbors, and as many others who will listen to me speak of Jesus’ love and forgiveness, life and salvation.

Today’s readings are 2 Corinthians 13; Deuteronomy 19; Lamentations 3. I’ll be away for the next few weeks. I will, however, attempt to post a link to the readings for the 49 Week Bible Challenge so you can follow the plan easily. During this time there will be no audio versions of these blog posts.

Lamentations 3:16-24

He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
    and made me cower in ashes;
¹⁷ my soul is bereft of peace;
    I have forgotten what happiness is;
¹⁸ so I say, “My endurance has perished;
    so has my hope from the Lord.”

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
    the wormwood and the gall!
²⁰ My soul continually remembers it
    and is bowed down within me.
²¹ But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

The message of Lamentations 3 is confusing, but the foundational truths are profoundly important. On the one hand Jeremiah describes God as causing his teeth to grind on gravel. God is pictured as a bear lying in wait and a lion in hiding ready to tear him apart. These are not the actions of a meek and mild Jesus.

It is vital to keep in mind that God’s truest intention is mercy. His alien work is judgment. And his proper work is compassion. God’s absolute prerogative is to weigh the actions and thoughts of man. We do not have the right to call him into question. It is he who judges, properly, justly, and finally.

God’s proper and greater work is that of compassion. That’s why Jeremiah – after recounting all the hard things God has visited on him – speaks of God’s great mercy and compassion. He writes, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; ²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Whatever trouble we may face and however we may wonder about God’s treatment of us, we can come back to God’s steadfast love, merch, and faithfulness.

This is all most fully seen in the life and death of Jesus. He was sorely afflicted by God (cf. Isaiah 52:13). Yet on the third day Jesus stood vindicated for his faith in his Father, and his faithfulness in humble obedience.

So we say,  “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, therefore I will hope in him” – no matter what may come.”

Today’s readings are 2 Corinthians 11; Genesis 3; Ecclesiastes 10. I’ll be away for the next few weeks. I will, however, attempt to post a link to the readings for the 49 Week Bible Challenge so you can follow the plan easily. During this time there will be no audio versions of these blog posts.

2 Corinthians 11:14

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Satan is a wiley foe. We must be ever aware of his schemes. He will even disguise himself as an angel of light – a messenger from God. But we must test every teaching against the truth of God’s word. Nothing else if infallible.