Kevin's Blog

One year ago today, I was lying on an operating table, eagerly anticipating a kidney transplant. I was incredibly nervous about the surgery – this was really my first major surgery. I had gone through a lot with permacatheters and dialysis the year before, but none of that was quite the same magnitude as the surgery I was about to undergo. My little brother Randy was giving me an amazing gift. He was donating one of his kidneys to me. We had woken up on December 18, 2008 and left for the hospital at about 5 AM, with Lisa and my parents. It was kind of cold and snowy if I remember right, but we didn’t have any serious difficulty at that time of the morning. I remember getting there and checking in. They called Randy back first, and then after a few minutes, they called me. We changed into gowns in neighboring prep stalls. The doctors and anesthesiologists came to talk to us and tell us what was going to happen – and then in what seemed like an instant, Randy was wheeled back to start the operation. It wasn’t too long until I followed him. Most of the rest of that day was a anesthesia induced blur for me, and I don’t mean to try to retell the story here. If you haven’t read and want to know more details about the transplant, please look at the blog posts from a year ago.

I am incredibly grateful to my brother. Even before he selflessly gave me a kidney, he has been one of my heroes. He has always been someone that is just bearing fruit to everyone he meets. I am really proud of the man God has made him.

The new normal of having a working kidney again was just bizarre after close to a year on dialysis. When I first started dialysis, I had tried to order lasagna from the hospital. But – I was told I couldn’t, because it had cheese and tomato sauce. The phosphorus and potassium contained in those foods was just something that dialysis could not effectively handle, so they were now almost completely eliminated from my diet. On my first day of solid food after the transplant, I was getting scolded for my dialysis diet tendencies and actually given a supplement so that I could get enough phosphorus. I was limited on the amount of fluid I could drink while on dialysis to roughly 1.5 liters per day, since I wasn’t producing enough urine to eliminate all the fluid that I took in and the dialysis machine was removing about 5 pounds of fluid per treatment. Now, it was the opposite. I was being encouraged to drink as much as I could. That is still a struggle for me even after a year with a functioning kidney again. You get used to just having a little fluid with meals, and it is an adjustment to drink more often. It seems like I am constantly trying to force myself to drink to get a normal amount of fluid for someone that has never been through dialysis. It is an amazing difference. Probably the largest difference is the amount of time and freedom you get back. Dialysis kept you going to the center 3 times a week, for about 4 hours at a time. Without that commitment, it is amazing the freedom that gives you back as far as being able to take a trip or the like. That seems like a huge time commitment, but I am amazed now that it doesn’t seem like I have that extra time in my day. I know I haven’t been able to read nearly as much and I now have a backlog of books I want to read. That was one thing the dialysis chair really helped with, was providing a distraction free time (for the most part) for reading.

The contrasts above are pretty amazing to me. It is such a blessing to be the recipient of the gift Randy gave to me. God has been so faithful to both of us as we have recovered. Randy has run a few triathlons this year, and continues to pursue his PHD. I have had just another amazing blessing of becoming a father to Faith Randall Carlson (that might be part of the reason I don’t get as much reading in nowadays). It is amazing to me as I watch her grow and develop. She is just a remarkable and wonderful creation and more wonderful than is even possible in my limited imagination. I am so proud of her and just can’t wait for each and every milestone, even as I am warned that my life will drastically change when she becomes mobile by crawling and walking. I still can’t wait.

I am still just amazed at every lab test I get back and my creatinine level is 1.2 or less. That is something that hasn’t happened since probably before I was in high school. I just thank God continuously and am amazed at how he has carried me through both sickness and health.

When I think about this amazing gift from my brother, a kidney is not what I am referring to in the title of this post as the greatest gift. The greatest gift that has or ever will be is something we make a point to celebrate this time of year. God himself loves us so much that He took on flesh and died for us on a cross. Christmas points us to the incarnation – to Jesus coming to earth as a man. To me, it is not important if most scholars believe that Jesus’ birth was actually some time in the spring, I really enjoy advent and looking to Christmas and celebrating the fact that Jesus did come, and He came to die for us for the forgiveness of our sins, to pay the death penalty that we justly deserve and God declared as the penalty for sin. But even this amazing substitutionary sacrifice isn’t the end – Jesus conquered death and rose again to eternal life, and by faith in Him, we can share in this life and spend eternity with God. I am just awe struck by this gift and it is something no one ever could deserve. This love from God, this Gospel, this amazing grace, is the greatest gift that can ever be given. The sacrifice my brother made for me in giving up a kidney I am incredibly grateful for, but when I think of Randy’s gift of the kidney, Randy’s heart, and the risk and love he showed to me, it serves to point me to and make me think of Jesus, and the greatest gift that could ever be given that my Savior gave in His life, death, and resurrection. Have you accepted this gift?

I’ve been given an amazing opportunity to take a hermeneutics class through my church. It has been just an incredible experience. As I practice and work through observing and interpreting scripture, I wanted to share what I am doing on my blog as I feel it may be helpful for someone. It is pretty raw and more just journaling my observations, but with some of the ground work and observations, even in this raw, journaled form it hopefully will help inspire a thirst for the living water that is God’s word. Please feel free to share any observations, comments, etc.

The other thing I want to do is be very up front about the tools and resources I am using. As much as possible, this is an attempt to be my own work and not relying upon someone else. When I do use a significant portion of someone else’s work, I will try to cite that resource. But – I do want to give credit and be up front about what I am using personally to help study the Bible and produce these posts:

1. e-sword. Great, free, bible study tool. I am using e-sword, with the ESV, NASB, NET, and Good News bibles. All but the NASB are available for free. The NASB is the source that has Strong’s numbers for digging deeper into the original languages. For the purpose of word studies, I am using the NASB Exhaustive Concordance, and Strong’s and Thayer’s dictionary modules for e-sword. I also have and use the Vincent’s Word Studies module, Geneva Bible translation notes, and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentaries modules. blueletterbible.org is a great resource for word studies as well.

2. For historical background help, I am using “The IVP Bible Background Commentary” by Craig S Keener, as well as the ESV Study Bible introductions.

3. I have to credit the textbook we are using in the class – “Grasping God’s Word”, by Duvall and Hayes. This is just an absolutely wonderful book for teaching you how to study the Bible.

So – here is my first one.

Romans 1:1-7

Rom 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

Rom 1:2 which he (God) promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

Rom 1:3 concerning his (God’s) Son, who (Jesus) was descended from David according to the flesh

Rom 1:4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his (Jesus’) resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Rom 1:5 through whom we (Paul and companions?) have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his (Jesus’) name among all the nations,

Rom 1:6 including you (readers of the letter?) who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Rom 1:7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you (saints in Rome) and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Observations: verbs: present perfect: was descended, was declared

verbs: aorist: set apart, have received, are called

verbs: past: promised beforehand

Key Word Details:

v1:

G2822 called (kletos) – I thought this was a verb, but it is actually an adjective in the Greek – called Apostle – modifying apostle. Paul is a called apostle by God. It is not by his own authority he is teaching but a calling from God, implied by both called and apostle (one sent). Both point to God as the source.

v3:

G 1096 was descended (ginomai) – literally came into being from David (as a descendant of David)

v4:

G3724 was declared (horizo?) to mark out, to appoint, to declare (very similar to set apart G873 in v1)

G1411 power (dunamis) – power inherent to something from its nature

v5:

G1223 through (dia) – a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act

G1519 to bring about (eis) – a primary preposition – for or unto would be a more literal translation

v6:

G2822 called (kletos) – invited would be a synonym – does this imply only believers then like I would have first read it? Probably not – all who are in the church, all who have heard the Gospel? Or is it stronger and meant to denote only believers?

v7:

G27 loved by (agapetos) – agape love, love from God – not philos type

G2822 called (kletos) – same as v7. Same question – does this imply only believers or all who have heard the Gospel? I believe in both cases the modifiers – belong to Christ and called to be saints implies believers or will be believers – those who will respond by believing the Gospel

Observations:

Romans Background: Author Paul, Audience: Believers / church in Rome. The church in Rome was most likely founded by people who were present at Pentecost. The Roman church would have been a mix between Jewish background believers and gentile background believers. The letter would have been written around A.D. 57. Persecution under Nero is still about 7 years away, but Claudius had expelled the Jewish community from Rome and the letter would have been written right after their return. So the church appeared to be in some conflict regarding backgrounds.

Repetition: All three members of the trinity are mentioned, and Jesus as Son is mentioned repeatedly. Also, God the father is listed multiple times. Also, called (kletos) is repeated 3 times. The first talking about Paul’s office, the 2nd talking about all nations, implying all who God calls through the Gospel? Did Paul know / envision a larger scope for this letter than just the Roman church? And the 3rd is talking about those called in the Roman church(es).

v1: Paul is a called apostle. All he does, comes from God, from his obedience as a bondservant to his master, Jesus Christ. This is a fairly typical greeting in a Pauline letter, stating the author and his credentials. Paul’s credentials rely on nothing he has done, but solely on his obedience to the One who sent him.

v2: The gospel was foreshadowed in the law, and foretold by the prophets in the form of the messiah. The messiah wouldn’t have been a new concept and least for the Jewish background believers in Rome.

v3: Paul is reinforcing both the lineage of Jesus, as foretold in the prophets, as well as the physical incarnation. The word indeed had become flesh. I don’t believe there would have been any roots / start of gnosticism at this time. I believe the focus here would be just on Jesus lineage fulfilling what was foretold by the prophets.

v4: Jesus fulfilled His promises. He just wasn’t a man claiming to be the messiah, but by His resurrection, and by the gift of the Holy Spirit, demonstrates He is who He says. The gentile background believers would not have had much of a concept of the prophets, but they would have understood they are sinners and fall short of the glory of God and their need for the messiah and Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross for them. And all of our hope would be for nothing without the resurrection.

v5: we – This appears to be only Paul as apostle to the gentiles. Paul seems to be the only author listed in verse 1, even though his choice of words is we – plural here. Paul appears to be sole author of the letter, but certainly did have companions in ministry on all of the missionary journeys. Also, Paul was dictating this letter (probably to Luke?), so that might also explain the usage of we. Anyway – not something to spend too much time on.

Obedience of faith – curious term. Faith would be the only requisite for salvation from Paul’s teaching. But, Paul and all of the apostles taught first the gospel, and that you are justified by faith alone for your legal position before God. But, second, after your salvation, as one grows as a Christian (not affecting your standing before God) how one should live when they are living in dependent faith in Christ for their salvation and maturing as a believer. It is important to remember that both were taught – and the place for each. How we live doesn’t impact our salvation or standing before God, that is based solely upon faith and is a gift of God’s grace. But – we are a new creation as a believer, coming out of a new spiritual birth, and this should affect how we live and just as an infant grows, we should be looking to grow and mature after being born again. We should live in obedience to all that Jesus taught, and this teaching and focus on discipleship after salvation tends to be lacking in churches today. Believers should grow, and should be taught all that the apostle’s taught and was preserved for us in the epistles. This doesn’t minimize the importance of the Gospel as it is the foundation and the only way we are saved, and foundational. But – the journey of a believer does not end at the moment of salvation, and there is more as we grow and become mature Christians.

v6: I almost like the sense of invited here for called (G2822 kletos). I know they are both synonyms and I think would be interpreted very similarly by someone who read either – but I like the missionary sense of Paul’s work and God’s intentions that the whole world would hear about Jesus and realize their need for Him in their life. It is an open invitation or calling. I believe the you in this verse here would be a generic you and intended for everyone who hears this letter (it could be just the church in Rome – but v5 starts out at nations and comes in to just the Roman church in v7 – so I’m thinking you is still something larger than the Roman church?), and not just the Roman church. I want to include Thayer’s entire definition here:

G2822

???????

kle?tos

Thayer Definition:

1) called, invited (to a banquet)

1a) invited (by God in the proclamation of the Gospel) to obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom through Christ

1b) called to (the discharge of) some office

1b1) divinely selected and appointed

Part of Speech: adjective

I think the sense of 1b would be most accurate in v1, with Paul as the called apostle. I think here 1a would be most appropriate, although I think a strong case could also be made for definition 1b1 as most accurate for kletos here. I think the focus either way should also be who we are invited or called to – Jesus. We are already getting a mini-picture pointing us to Jesus that all of Paul’s writing does.

v7 – The focus seems to be down to the audience of the letter now – those called in Rome. I think the same discussion on called applied here as in v6. But again – I think the important aspect regardless of definition is the focus on God as the caller, and His action in Jesus coming, and his life, death, and resurrection as the justification by which God gave us access to this call.