144 14 Habits of Highly Effective Disciples
BIBLE COMMENTS
Understanding the Context
As we continue our fourteen-week study of core commitments and prac-
tices of Christ-followers, we come to a subject that a number of believers
would rather avoid, if not in principle at least in practice—witnessing.
Truth be told, the idea of (verbally) sharing their faith with unbelievers
causes many erstwhile disciples to feel uncertainty, insecurity, and anxi-
ety. At the same time, however, deep down inside, those who love and
laud Jesus as Lord and Savior want to offer a winsome witness with their
words and their ways, their lives and their lips.
How can we work our way through this spiritual nettle? One impor-
tant piece to this sometimes-confounding puzzle is to continue to allow
the Bible to shape our cognitions and affections. Today’s lesson features
two Pauline passages regarding the gospel. The first, Romans 10:8–15,
focuses upon the necessity of both proclaiming and believing in the
gospel. The second, 1 Corinthians 15:1–8, emphasizes the crux of the
gospel message, namely, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
Romans 10:8–15, a key component of the so-called “Roman Road to
Salvation” (see Rom. 3:10–12, 23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9–10, 13; 5:1; 8:1, 38–39), is
a part of Paul’s protracted, anguished ref lection in Romans 9—11 upon
the reluctance of so many of his fellow Jews to confess and embrace
Jesus as Lord. Although Gentiles (that is, non-Jews) were more receptive
to the gospel the Apostle Paul proclaimed, 1 Corinthians 15 indicates
that the message he preached was not necessarily the word his primar-
ily Gentile converts received. Indeed, Paul’s rehearsal of the gospel he
declared in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15:1–8 was occasioned by the
claim of certain persons within the church that there was no such thing
as resurrection from the dead (see 1 Cor. 15:12). We now turn to treat
these texts in turn.