Fox Street Church of God

I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him!  All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!  For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.  

So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.

Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.

Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.  For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.

Paul is writing this letter to Christians, no matter their background. The key to this passage is that Paul is telling the churches in Rome on how to achieve biblical unity. Paul places the first idea on finding out what we all have in common, whether they were a Jew, a Gentile, or a Pagan who now follows Christ.