Threads in Romans
—Charting the Tapestry of Paul’s Teaching
In Paul's writings, there are certain threads of thought woven together into a marvelous tapestry of truth.
| God’s love | God’s severity |
| God’s grace | God’s law |
| Faith | Works |
| The heart | The flesh |
| Righteousness | Sin |
| Inward peace | War within |
| Reconciliation | Enmity |
| Holiness | Depravity |
| Humility | Boasting |
| Serving God | Serving creature |
| God’s truth | Man’s Lie |
| Justification | Imputation |
| Blessing | Wrath |
| Forgiveness | Condemnation |
| Free gift | Wages deserved |
| Life | Death |
| Ingrafting | Cutting off |
| Glory | Corruption |
| Enrichment | Loss |
| Freedom | Bondage |
| Renewal | Oldness |
| Strength | Weakness |
| Christ | Self |
| Sacrifice | Selfishness |
| Promise | Circumcision |
| Spirit | Letter |
| Mercy | Hardening |
| Victory | Tribulation |
Notes
Each thread usually has a contrasting counterpart, however the contrast is not necessarily good versus bad.
For example the contrasting threads of faith-works,or of grace-law, or of heart-flesh, obviously have a tension, but it is not a tension between good and bad.
Other pairs, such as righteousness-sin, life-death, reconciliation-enmity, obviously do represent a contrast of good versus bad.
Beyond the simple contrasting of pairs, the threads of Paul's thinking are often linked in more wonderful ways. For example, a tapestry of the threads of grace, glory, righteousness, the flesh, and serving God, can be seen in Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1, and 1Corinthians 6:20.
It is instructive and edifying to meditate on the tapestry of Paul's thinking, and to observe the individual threads that he weaves together. The chart on this page provides many of these threads, combined as contrasting pairs.
Note:— Some effort required. The chart above will do you very little good unless you are willing to read at least some portions of Paul's letter to the Romans and try to identify some of the threads. Then you will begin to understand the letter much better.