Wresting Romans 5

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

And patience, experience; and experience, hope:" - Romans 5:3-4

Continuing with our weekly studies in the book of Romans we come into Chapter 5. Notice in verse 3 it says "we glory in tribulations also". It doesn't say that we glory for them, we're not happy when they come along, nor do we think that an illness, flat tire, or horrific event is "God teaching us a lesson, so that we can figure out what his will is for us". And yet we glory while in tribulations......knowing.

"Knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience, experience, and experience, hope."

This verse has also been wrested by those who say how the Body of Christ is going through the "Great Tribulation", and the way it was presented to me is, "we must glory as we go through tribulation...you know, the Great Tribulation."

Whew...wow is that ever wrong. One takes a verse out of Romans (specifically Chapter 5) to explain why the Body of Christ is going through Israel's Tribulation? Stranger things have happened, I suppose. The Lord's been turned into a cracker, after all in the Roman Catholic religion, and John Chapter 6 has been used to do that.

So, without paying attention, you could glory for tribulations, looking to learn a "lesson from the Lord", or "Glory in the Great Tribulation" itself, Daniel's 70th week as you aim to go through it, a member of the Body of Christ.

And that's just 2 verses in Romans.

Being that Romans is a foundational book, let's not wrest the foundation, but believe what it says to whom it says it, and study it out properly and in the proper context. Otherwise your foundations get wrested, and instead of being built up, you could very well fall apart.

"...which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:16