Able to make you strong ...

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Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him. -Romans 16:25-26 NLT

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In these last sentences of his letter to the Romans Paul ends by restating what he has written in much of this long letter. Specifically that God loves the whole world and not just Israel. Once upon a time Paul believed that no one but a Jew could be saved. He embraced an ethnic form of salvation that embraced the idea that God accepted people based on their ancestry. That message was flawed and the Father sent His only Son to show us the error of that message.

The gospel of the Kingdom of God is a message that is able to make a person strong. This Good News can do what Mosaic Law could not. In a sense the law made one weak. For the Pharisees it brought hypocrisy. For the ones known as "sinners" it brought shame. In contrast the message of forgiveness and healing that Jesus preached made a person strong. This gospel message is able to make one strong in faith, hope and love - and that is really Good News!

All glory to you Lord, the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.

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