Romans Personal Bible Study.

Chapter 1

When I talk about the law I am referring to the Law of Moses found in the Old testament. These laws are found mostly in Leviticus.

Romans 1:1–32 (NIV)

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—

First we need to address the social stigma around this first verse. Servant is not an a completely accurate translation of the word that Paul uses to describe his relationship with Jesus. The word that Paul uses is doulos, which most of the time is translated as a bond servant, or slave. However because of our history with American Slavery we do not want to use this word. However American slavery and the idea of bond servant, or bond slave in the Biblical text could not be more different. A bond servant would work for their master for 6 years, on the 7th year their debt was forgiven and they were freed. Thing about it this way; if you could work for your mortgage lender for 6 years and then have your mortgage forgiven would you do it? Many times the person was so happy with their master they would voluntarily stay working for them. In Genesis 15 :2 When Abraham is talking to God he says this about his servant.

Genesis 15:2 NIV

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”

No American slave would have inherited anything of their masters. What Paul is saying when he says that he is a bond servant or slave of Jesus is that he is bond to Christ for life.

Next the idea of being an Apostle is not something that he sought out. Instead Jesus called him and set him apart for a special mission. He is called to preach and teach the Good News of Jesus to the Gentiles.

the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures

regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,

the Bible fro start to finish points to Jesus. In creation Jesus was there. The entire story of the Bible points to the coming of Jesus. This is a very important theological truth. Sin did not being Jesus into the world. Even if Adam and Eve would not have sinned Jesus would have still come into the world. While Jesus did die for our sins, and while it is true that what He did on the cross offers us forgiveness, ultimately what Jesus did was to give us access to God. Because Jesus died on the cross the Holy Spirit came into the world, which allows God to live in us, so that we have unlimited access to Him.

and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.

And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

This statement legitimizes the church in Rome.; but it also showed them the expectation of what the Christian life should look like. If they chose to be followers of Jesus , then they have to accept Him and all of His teaching as well as those that deal with sin and suffering. It is a really cool idea to think that we belong to Jesus. I am not sure that we really give ourselves to Him entirely like Paul did!

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I wonder how weird it was to think that Paul who is a Roman citizen called himself a slave. Romans where proud people, they believed that they where the only free people in a lot of ways. I wonder how much our pride gets in the way of us really serving Jesus.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.

Paul never met these people. How cool is it to thank God for people you have never met?

God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you

in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

This really made me stop and think! Again, Paul has never met these people, but he is praying for them all the time. There are a laundry list of scriptures that tell us we should pray for people. But the one that really stands out in my mind is in 1 Samuel chapter 12, which is Samuel’s farewell speech to Israel. He is about to die and he begins to tell them all of the junk they have done, and how he has put up with them, he seems just a bit irritated. But at the end of it in verse 23 Samuel says it would be a sin for him not to pray for Israel even through he is upset with them. I think that puts the idea of praying for people in a different. We have a responsibility to pray for people, even if we do not like or agree with them. And our pray should not be selfish; it should be that God’s will be done.

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—

that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.

I love how Paul establishes the relationship, talking about how they can encourage each other.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.

That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

This is the foundation for all of the Christian faith. Everything in the New testament revolves around this statement. John 3:16 makes no sense without this statement. Ephesians 4:13 have no power without this statement. The Gospel is the story of Jesus. It is the power of God revealed through His son. The word salvation is not about avoiding heel, instead it is about God’s desire to be in relationship with His creation. However in order to do that we have to accept the truth of the Gospel.

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

The Gospel leads us to Jesus, but we have to submit to Him, and belong to Him. That is living by faith; God does not force us to love Him. He gives us the choice! Faith is saying yes to that choice!

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

This is a really important statement and one that challenges most of us. God is a fair loving God. That means he provides grace, and judgment. He provides love and wrath. Now, much like the idea of American slavery has nothing to do with the idea of Jewish bond slavery, the idea of God’s wrath and human wrath have nothing to do with each other. God’s wrath is patient, kind and loving. Human wrath is irrational and unloving. But because all of humanity are created in the image of God, because all of humanity have life because God breathed it into them, no one! Not a person alive, has an excuse to reject Jesus. John 3:16 is just part of the story, verses 17 and 18 tell us that we have a choice, and if we chose to reject Jesus, regardless of the reason we will be separated from God!

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

No excuse! No person can say I was raised this way, or I feel like this should be this way, or I did not know!

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.

In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

This is not popular, but it is Biblical. When we reject God sin comes into our lives. There is no way to needle this text, there is no way to justify this text by saying that it is ancient, or that the words have been mistranslated. One of the easiest ways for Satan to attack us is through our bodies. Sex is an act of the flesh, we join flesh with another person when we have sex. the rejection of God leads to sinful acts. Which leads to us justifying what we are doing, which is a lie. Satan is the father of lies, so when we justify these things we justify lies. The word that Paul uses for natural when he talks about same sex relationships is Physis, which refers to creation, nature, plants, all the stuff that God created. Paul just told us that we can see God’s loving nature and beauty in creation, when we believe a lie, or when we lie to ourselves to justify our selves we reject God’s plan.

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

We cannot believe a lie and live into the fullness of God’s plan for our lives.

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,

slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;

they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

This is a tough chapter, so why would Paul start out this way? Because he realizes the damage that believing a lie can and will do in our lives. It leads us to become people that God never intended us to be!

Chapter 2

Romans 2:1–29 (NIV)

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Whenever you see the word therefore in scripture it is a clue. It means because something previously stated is true the next statement is going to be true; those two statements always go hand in hand. What is really interesting about this is that chapter 1 was all about the Gentiles. Paul spends most of the chapter talking about how they have believed lies about false gods which lead to all kinds of sins, things like sexual immorality and so on. The Jewish Christians who read that would have been cheering! They would have been thinking things like “it is about time someone called those Gentiles out for their sinful nature.”

However chapter 2 is all about the Jewish people and their sinful nature. Paul spends a lot of time talking about judgement in this chapter which is confusing. If you read chapter 1 it seems like Paul is very judgmental about certain types of sin. This scripture has been a struggle for a lot of people, and has caused some very questionable theology over the years. So we are going to break it down.

The Jewish people used the law to judge things. So when Paul says those of you who pass judgement are condemning yourself (he will explain that later on in the letter.) he is talking about the Jewish Christians trying to get the Gentiles to live under the law. The issue is that the Jewish people where not living out the law, which is what Paul will point out in more detail as the chapter progresses.

Paul leave no doubt about this. When he talks about judgement in chapter 2 he uses 7 different words; why would he do this? He wanted to remove any excuses. One of the words he uses for judgement is only found in the Old Testament and applies exclusively to things surrounding the Law.

Lastly this is not the popular “do not judge me, or only God can judge me.” How do we know this. All of Paul’s writings line up with Jesus’ teaching. Jesus never taught us not to judge sin. He actually commanded us to judge sin. in Matthew 7: 1-5

Matthew 7:1–5 NIV

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

This scripture has become popular for the “do not judge me culture.” Jesus actually says we have a responsibility to help people stop sinning. However in order to do that we must fully belong to Jesus, we have to submit to the power of the Holy Spirit, and allow Him to change our sinful nature, so that He can use us to help others.

The issue is that the Jewish Christians in Rome where being hypocritical, they where trying to get the Gentiles to do something they where not doing themselves.

Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.

Truth and love will always go hand in hand with God! They should go hand in hand for us!

So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

When we are hypocritical we do a lot of damage. Brennan Manning a theologian, and author is famous for saying “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

We all need grace, we all need to be repentant, not because God is going to condemn us, but because of His great love.

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

We do not like to think of God as being wrathful. However in this context Paul is using it as another word for judgement. Because people continual reject God’s mercy they bring the judgement of sin on their lives. Remember in Chapter 1 when Paul said that they believed a lie so God turned them over to their own sinful nature. This is the same concept. Our refusal to accept God’s great love and mercy (which is evident when we continue to sin.) takes us off the path that God planned for us, which allows us to experience the wrath of our sins.

God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”

Paul is quoting Psalm 62:12

Psalm 62:12 NIV

and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.”

and Proverbs 24:12

Proverbs 24:12 NIV

If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

What I find even more interesting is how Jesus addresses this exact same concept in Matthew 16: 21-28

Matthew 16:21–28 NIV

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

This is not some works righteousness this is all bout following Jesus! Doing what He teaches, even when it is hard. For Peter this was a tough lesson, we all need to learn from Peter! Its not about what we like! Its about God’s truth. The next several verse are all to be viewed in the light of following Jesus, it is not about works! Its is about faith and following Jesus!

To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

The natural response to God’s amazing love is to do His will!

But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;

but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

For God does not show favoritism.

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

Sin equates a rejection of God. Notice that Paul says for those who reject the truth and persist in sinning. This is not about making a mistake, lowing your temper once in a while, being selfish every now and again. This is about claiming to be a Christian with your mouth and denying Jesus with your life.

(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law.

They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)

Super important Theological Truth. God’s Holy Spirit is present in every person! He speaks to our hearts, it is up to us if we let Him change our lives. No one has an excuse! God’s Spirit is constantly drawing us to Him!

This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

There will be judgement, but also forgiveness through Christ!

Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;

if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;

if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark,

an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—

you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

You cannot attempt to be justified by the law and Jesus at the same time. You have to chose! Hint no one has ever been justified by the law!

You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

The Jewish Christians justified their sins because they had the law. This particular issue is very interesting. It was against the law (of God) to worship in a temple. Because it was against the law to worship idols many Jewish people justified stealing from the idols temples. Theft is theft regardless. Today I would compare it to a couple things. First bombing a abortion clinic because killing is a sin. There is no doubt that murder is a sin, however committing a sin to stop a sin is not ok.

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.

So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?

The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

Super interesting. Circumcision was a physical sign of belonging to God. It however is meaningless if the person did not love Jesus and follow His teachings. About 80% of Americans say they are Christians. Many of them have things like religious themed checks, but they bounce those same checks. They have Christian bumper stickers or emblems on their car, but road rage when someone cuts them off. And the one that hits home for a lot of us is that we know what God has called us to do. We have been called to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We have been called to help remove the spec of dust from our brother or sisters eye. We have been called to love people enough to be honest with them about sin. But have not allowed God’s Spirit to change us so we cannot help others. Since we have not allowed that transformation to happen in us we get more concerned about offending someone then helping them. Simply saying we are Christian is not enough!

Chapter 3

Romans 3:1–31 (NIV)

What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?

Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.

What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?

This is a very important question as it pertains to the book of Romans and Paul’s argument about if being a Jewish person is enough for salvation. In chapter 2 Paul takes a very hard stance on the benefit of the Law. It would appear that he has a very low view of being Jewish. However that is not the case, Paul has a low view of the way the Jewish people have rejected God and ultimately Jesus as Messiah. Throughout the whole of scripture and even more so in the New Testament the Jewish people seem to have a type of entitlement mentality. In other words when they are challenged with living into their end of the Covenant with God response is something like: We are Abraham’s Children, We a God’s chosen people. We have the Law, and circumcision. Of course this is not the case for all Jewish people, but this is an over arching theme throughout scripture. Paul is challenging this in chapter 2 explaining that even they (the Jewish People) have failed to live into the covenant they entered into with God.

However even though they have failed God has blessed them. One way He has blessed them is to trust and allow them to be the people He shared His words with. They get to record this amazing communication with God and pass it on the all of the world! What an amazing privileged and honor!

Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

The really important thing to understand here is the God always keeps His word. He is always faithful even when we fail.

But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)

Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?

Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”

Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

This is a tough theological stream to wade through., but we are going to try. He is the basic argument. Because I am a sinner God sinner God’s grace is available for humanity. The more I sin the more grace that is there. So by my sinning more people can see God’s love. When then am I punished as a sinner? Here are the flaws with that argument as Paul points them out.

This is not about our unfaithfulness, it is about God’s faithfulness. The two are not dependent on each other. God will always be faithful regardless of what we do.

The law was never meant to bring about righteousness, only to teach right from wrong.

As we will soon see in the next few verses, Righteousness can only come through faith, not the law.

So then if a person wants to take this flawed argument and try to twist the nature of God, and reject His love (that is what Paul is equating this to. This argument is a rejection of God’s great love through Jesus) then they have chosen to be condemned.

This is a really important point. The word that Paul uses for just when he says “ Their condemnation is just! “ is the word endikos. What is fascinating about this is that this word is only used a handful of times in the Bible and each time it is connected to God’s judgement. We struggle with God’s judgement; we say things like how can a loving God send someone to hell. But that is a human concept, it is a way for us to take ourselves out of the equation,, to put all the blame on God. It is much like saying, well if my sin allows more of God’s grace in the world then It should be ok that I sin. In the end God will not send anyone to hell, however many people will chose to reject God and then when He allows them to go to hell, it will their choice, which is what makes it just. God does not force anyone to do anything, He allows us to chose.

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

Paul is going to make a very important statement that the rest of his arguments in the book of Romans revolve around. It you are human, it does not matter if you are Jew are Gentile, you need Jesus. He is saying you are lost; you are a sinner, you are separated from God because of your sin. In chapter 1 he has already stated that everyone needs salvation through Christ So then if you fall into the category of being human, then you need Jesus,; end of the story!

As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;

Over the next several verses Paul is going to give an Old testament argument for why people need Jesus. After each scripture I will put the verse Paul is referencing. The one above is Psalm 14: 1-3

Psalm 14:1–3 NIV

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

as well as Psalm 53: 1-3

Psalm 53:1–3 NIV

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.

and Ecclesiastes 7: 20

Ecclesiastes 7:20 NIV

Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

Psalm 5:9 NIV

Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies.

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

Psalm 10:7 NIV

His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

ruin and misery mark their ways,

and the way of peace they do not know.”

Isaiah 59:7–8 NIV

Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace.

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Psalm 36:1 NIV

I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

This is Paul restating the purpose of the law. It was not meant to bring righteousness but so that people could understand right from wrong.

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—

he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.

For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Paul has made his argument. He has talked about nature and morality in chapter 1, he has explained that even though the Jewish people had the law in they did not live into or up to it in chapter 2. In chapter 3 he explains that if you are human you need Jesus, and takes away any and every excuse someone might have. He does this with a rhetorical argumentative approach at the begging of the chapter for the benefit of the learned Roman Christians, and then he quotes Old Testament to the Jewish people. And not just any OT scriptures but Psalms written by David their greatest king, and Isaiah one of the greatest prophets. But in the end it can all be summed up like this: it does not matter who you are, what you think, where you live, what you do, how you look, or what you believe! You can only be saved through the great love of God shown through the sacrifice of Jesus!