Bible Streams

Chris is back from his New Zealand trip and rejoins Jo and Alex for Romans chapter three, after a recap of the ground covered in chapters one and two. They open with Paul's question about what advantage there is in being Jewish, reading it alongside his insistence that Israel was entrusted with God's promises to steward on behalf of the world, not to keep for itself, and that human unfaithfulness cannot undo God's own faithfulness to what He has promised.  The middle of the episode covers Paul's catena of Old Testament quotations in verses nine to twenty, a chain of Psalms and prophetic texts hammering home that no one, Jew or Gentile, is righteous. Jo, Alex, and Chris talk through why Paul builds his case this way, drawing on scripture the Jewish audience already treasured, before turning to the hinge of the chapter: the righteousness of God revealed apart from the law, in Jesus Christ. This leads into a careful, wide-ranging discussion of justification, redemption, and propitiation, including the Old Testam