1. Did Abraham believe really in God?
We are continuing the lecture on Epistle to the Romans and today¡Çs session is the fourth sequence. The last part of the passage is the core of today¡Çs lecture. ; - but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.(Romans 4:24-25) (³¤­…)

1. The sin grasped in Romans

We continue the series of the lecture on Epistle to the Romans and today is its third session. Frankly saying, I have certain difficulties in preparing sermons on Romans. Because the contents of the letter is not a mere guidance of Paul to the church of Rome which should have solved problems among believers. In addition to that, it shows Paul¡Çs fundamental doctrine of the faith, too. So I read several works concerning Romans and, as a guide book of this lecture, I chose ¡ÈCommentary on Epistle to the Romans*1¡É . The book was written by Dr. Kazou Kitamori, one of Japanese influential theologians. He is also known as ¡ÈTheologian of the pain of God.¡É Today I will lecture on Romans 3 by referring to that commentary. (³¤­…)

1. The nature of sin
From the last week, we are reading Epistle to the Romans. Paul had been aspiring to Rome as the ultimate preaching place, the center of the world. However he had to go to Jerusalem at first. So he wrote the letter addressing to Christians in the church of Rome. He intended to introduce himself in advance before visiting the City. But it is not a simple presentation of his personality. (³¤­…)

1. Paul¡Çs letter to the church of Rome

From this October, we will read the Epistle to Romans. This epistle, or letter, was written by Paul to Christians of the church of Rome, in the capital of the Empire. The writing is having a power to push the Christian church to move throughout the history. For example, Martin Luther*1 launched the Reform movement with the theory of ¡ÈSola fide (Faith alone),¡É which had been inspired by ¡ÈRomans.¡É Or, ¡ÈStudy on Romans¡É by Kanzo Uchimura *2 is still considered to be the theological base of Japanese protestantism. And Karl Barth*3, one of the most influential theologians of the modern protestant domain, established his thinking by basing on ¡ÈRomans.¡É And we will reflect on the letter for 3 months ahead as if it were addressed to this congregation of Shinozaki church. (³¤­…)