Rom 3:29-30 (The Same God)

i am kinda bouncin' around here. my husband started teaching a bible study & went over these scriptures this last saturday night. what i wanna do is just kind of go through and study them myself this week and catch up to what he will be teaching for next weekend, so i have already taken a look at it by then. i like to have already studied what he teaches in his bible studies, that way if anyone asks a question when he isn't around, or...i see that he may need to communicate something there that he is missing, i will have already looked at it and will be prepared ahead of time.

anyhoo...so to the Word we go:

Rom 3:29

Paul is asking a question, "IS HE THE GOD OF THE JEWS ONLY? IS HE NOT ALSO OF THE GENTILES? YES, OF THE GENTILES ALSO."

it seems pretty self-explanatory, but unless one understands some of the hermeneutics of scripture, the reader could wind up completely lost and not ever truly grasp the true intent and meaning of the scriptures. we are not to simply take a scripture here and one there and fit it into some sermon or speech in order to make something say what we want it to. the bible is not of any private interpretation. what hermeneutics is, is an expository or explanation of the scripture with historical backgrounds revealed...to help folks better understand the Word of God.

so, in this verse, the reason that Paul makes reference to God being the same God over the Jews and the Gentiles, is because there were a lot of Gentiles being converted in those days and many Jews corrupting the new converts by means of what we call these days, Judiasers. Judiasers were Jews that would come along side of new converts and tell them that they were saved, and Jesus was the Messiah, but in order to REALLY be saved, they must be circumcised, or observe the Jewish feasts, etc. Not much difference from today, we have folks still teaching the same things. (you have to do THIS in order for God to validate your desire for salvation, when all that He said was to, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved, you and your household.")

The Jews prided themselves with being handed down the Law of Moses and being God's chosen people, (for He gave the moral low only to the Jews). But what Paul is in fact saying here in this verse, is that the same God that is over the Jews, is the God of the Gentiles, who have received Christ. There is One Lord over all, One baptism, He is One.

Verse, 30: "SEEING IT IS ONE GOD, WHICH SHALL JUSTIFY THE CIRCUMCISION BY FAITH, AND UNCIRCUMCISION THROUGH FAITH."

I've studied this out, and some commentators have stated that there s a difference in he use of the words, "by faith" and "through faith." they are one and the same in meaning...two different greek words, they both are eluding to the fact that God is the SAME God and they both must come to Him.

What Paul is saying here is simply this: both Jew and Gentile have sinned and come short of the perfection of God, and both are equally in need of salvation.