Problem: Ethicists note that submission to government is not always ethical. Sometimes, governments are evil, and it is our civic duty to disobey them. How does this harmonize with Romans 13, which is the most extensive passage on government in the New Testament?
Problem: Shall we obey God’s Law or human law? The Bible tells us to do both, but is that a contradiction?
Problem: Paul’s reference to “burning coals” on someone’s head is very bizarre. Critics interpret this to mean that Christians should literally burn their enemies with fire.
Problem: Some Calvinistic interpreters argue that God gives us faith, so that we can believe in Christ. For instance, Calvinist John Piper writes, “Paul is concerned that people were ‘thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think.’ His final remedy for this pride is to say that not only are spiritual gifts a work of God’s free grace in our lives, but so also is the very faith with which we use those gifts. This means that every possible ground of boasting is taken away. How can we boast if even the qualification for receiving gifts is also a gift? … As Romans 12:3 says, So that we will not think too highly of ourselves. The last bastion of pride is the belief that we are the originators of our faith.”[1] Are we called on to believe, or does God produce faith in us?
Problem: The nation of Israel clearly rejected Christ as their Messiah (Romans 9–10; cf. John 1:10–11). And the Bible says that the promises of Abraham go to his spiritual seed, not his descendants according to the flesh (Rom. 4; Gal. 3). Why then does Romans 11 speak of a future for the nation of Israel?
Problem: Paul says that believers will be “cut off,” unless they continue in God’s kindness. Some interpreters argue that this threatens the doctrine of eternal security. Catholic apologist Karl Keating writes, “Paul wrote this to people who were already ‘saved,’ in a state of grace—a grace they could lose, becoming ‘unsaved.’”[1] Is this the case?
Problem: Paul has already stated that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures (1:3-4), and he has quoted these Hebrew Scriptures countless times in his letter to the Romans. And yet, many of the Jews in Paul’s day rejected Jesus as their King. This would appear to be a gross contradiction in God’s plan. This is why Paul addresses this subject in Romans 11:1 (“God has not rejected His people, has He?”). How do we account for so many Jews rejecting Jesus, if he was in fact the Jewish Messiah?
Problem: Paul writes, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14) This verse implies that we need to hear Jesus’ name in order to come to faith. This would mean that billions of people on Earth would go to hell, because they have never heard of Jesus. Is this the case?
Problem: Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 30 twice in this small section (v.6 and v.8), which refers to the law. However, here, Paul is referring to receiving Christ as Savior –apart from the law. Is Paul quoting this verse out of context?
Problem: Paul seems to imply that law-keeping brings life when he cites Leviticus (18:5) that “the man who does those things [written in the law] shall live by them” (Rom. 10:5). But elsewhere Paul himself calls it “the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). He affirms flatly, “the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death” (Rom. 7:10).