Week 7: St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans Ch. 1:20-21
Verse to memorize
“Ever since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what He has made” (NABRE)
Ever since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what He has made. As a result they have no excuse; for although they knew God, they did not accord Him glory as God or give Him thanks.
1.) In the earliest days of the Church, as the teachings of Jesus spread through out the Roman Empire, there were no church buildings yet—Christians met in homes we today call “house churches”. St. Paul of Tarsus was a first century educated Jew who, after first persecuting the Jewish Christians, had a dramatic encounter with the risen Jesus Himself, and became a Christian also. While he was not one of the original Twelve disciples, for the rest of his life, Paul traveled on land and sea spreading the Gospel as far as Rome and maybe even Spain. What do you know about St. Paul?
2.) St. Paul moved from city to city converting pagans to Christianity. After he left one city, he would keep in touch with the new Christians by writing letters called Epistles. Around 57AD, he decided to travel to Rome and then to go on to Spain. He wrote a letter to the many “house churches” in Rome. He addressed himself to both the former Jewish converts as well as to the former pagan converts to Christianity who celebrated Mass in these homes. He warned them about the dangers of idol worship in the Roman capital of his day. He argued that even if a person never heard of the One True God, he or she could just look at creation to learn of God’s power and divinity. When you look outside, especially when you look at the sky by day and the stars by night, are you reminded of God the Father?
3.) God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit are invisible. They are everywhere — and — They are in our hearts. When you think about God or Jesus, what part of the sky, earth, humans or living things do you think of? Think of something really small in nature that is awesome. Think of something very large in nature that is awesome.
4.) What about God’s power? What is there in nature that shows God’s eternal power?
Courtesy of The Bible Project