ROMANS CHAPTER 12 - 16

ROMANS 12

1 That’s why I beg you, brothers by
The mercies of God, don’t deny
Your bodies in a living offering,
Both holy and received when proffering
To God, which is your reasonable
Service as liturgy in full.
2 And don’t be conformed to this world:
But be transformed by the unfurled
Renewing of your mind, so you
May prove what’s good, acceptable,
And perfect will of God in view.

The living human sacrifice in view,
And not the deicide corrects the rue.
Salvation’s not the crucifix to ride,
But daily doing right beneath the guide.
The transformation that comes from Your Word,
Both in the script and in the things I've heard,
As well as in the flesh and blood to make
A life both faithful and without mistake,
Is where salvation hides from wicked stake.
Beloved, I take hold of the Gospel crown
And wield it at the grace Your throne sends down
Upon my head. See where the silver slips
About the corridors of phantom ships
Upon a sea of glass before the street
Of gold undampened by the shadowed sleet.

3 For I say, through the grace given me,
To every man among you free,
Not to think of himself highly
More than he ought to soberly,
According as God to every
Man’s dealt faith’s measure faithfully.
4 For as we have members many
Of diverse roles in one body,
5 So we’re many in one body
In Christ, and every one to be
Members one of another, see.
6 Having then gifts diverse by grace
That’s given to us: if by trace
Of prophecy, by measure of
The faith we hold and hold in love;
7 Or ministry to minister;
Or he that teaches, teach to stir,
8 Or the exhorter, as it were,
To exhort; he who gives a rate,
To do so in a simple state;
And he who would administrate,
To do so with diligent gait;
And he who shows mercy, to wait
With cheerfulness and not be late.

Diversity of gifts was never taken
As the ideal in a church unshaken.
The pews are set in rows so all should know
That not only equality in show
Requires the lopping off of heads that grow
Above the level of the painful slow,
But that conformity is divine law
In the church of the devil's tooth and claw.
Diversity of gifts, oh yes, I feel
The hope of Paul before the cutting steel,
But sense upon my skin the blacken heel
Of Rome and daughters in unbroken zeal.
Beloved, diversity's a song to sing,
But no one seems to love the very thing.

9 Let love be without hiding face.
Detest the evil, hold the chase
Of what is good in every trace.
10 Deal kindly with each other in
Affection, and prefer to win
Honour for others than yourself.
11 Do not be lazy as an elf
In your affairs, but with a mind
Of eager service, serve resigned
The Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope to find
Patience in trials of every kind,
Steadfast in prayer, be so inclined.
13 Hand out necessities to saints
In hospitality's restraints.
14 Bless those who persecute you, bless,
And never curse on their address.

The truth is that the Psalms from day to day
Lay blessings and lay cursings in the way
They treat the enemy, the saint, the fray.
Does this conflict with what Paul's here to say?
I think not. But the sweet Christian in life's
Uncomfortable with the curse in strifes,
And must repent, perhaps, if penance still
Remains a part of his religious thrill.
More like he sees with judgement any frill
Of cursing. Sweet talk always fits his bill
As he slips the sharp knife into the grill
Of brother. My Beloved, let me remain
In David's catharis and so be sane,
Unhypnotized by rhetoric in vain.

15 Rejoice with those who do rejoice,
And weep with weepers in loud voice.
16 Agree with one another's cheer.
Don't fly too high and out of gear,
But condescend to low estate.
Don't be too wise in your own rate.
17 Repay no one for evil done
With evil poured out in a tonne.
Provide things honest in the sight
Of everyone, both wench and wight.

The word in politic is passive and
Aggressive in one fell group on the land.
Repay no evil for the evil done
Is still advice worth silver in a tonne.
And yet the way to world's success is set
In hopeful hidden aggressions unmet.
That's why I hug the fringes of the fray
And spend my hours in countryside to play
Among the firs and pines and birches still
Perched on the edges of my outer hill.
Beloved, with what do You repay my fill
Of sorcery in binding my last kill?
No doubt the morning that renews my gold
Is punishment enough for what I've sold.

18 If it is possible, as much
As depends on you and your touch,
Live in peace with all men in clutch.
19 Do not avenge, dearly beloved,
But let wrath die before it's gloved.
For it is written: “Vengeance here
Is mine, I will repay the dear,”
Says YHWH. 20 Therefore if your foe lies
In hunger, feed him; if he cries
In thirst, give him a drink, for in
So doing you shall come to win
By heaping coals of fire in din
Upon his head, and still not sin.
21 Do not succumb to evil's way,
But conquer evil with good's ray.

I like the vengeance St. Paul in his way
Pours on my head, it's worth what I must pay
In shouting down the will to lose the fray.
I have no enemy without the rate
Of food and drink beside the well-filled plate.
I have no enemy without a cloak,
Or at least jeans to cover up his poke.
But there are ways and scenes that I can take
To burn the scalp of my foes for Your sake.
The bark scoop at the fireside is still filled
With coals and ashes of the elder tilled,
And I may lift it up again to strike
My neighbour with the sort of things I like,
Despite the call of pigeon and of shrike.

ROMANS 13

1 Let every one be subject to
The higher powers set in their due.
For there's no power but God allowed,
The rulers ordained by God proud.
2 Whoever then resists their power
Resists what God set up an hour,
And those who do resist will wake
To find themselves losers in stake.
3 For magistrates are not to fear
For those who do good works in mere,
But for the wicked in their gear.
Will you then not respect their peer?
Do what is good, and you'll have praise
From them now and all of your days.
4 For he's the minister of God
To you for your good on the sod.
But if you do the wicked thing,
Then be afraid of ruler's sting.
For he bears not the sword in vain,
But is the hand of God to strain
Avenging wrath on wicked fane.

The usefulness of magistrate to keep
The peace is something I accept in sleep,
Still knowing that predestinations keep
Your judgement here unsullied where I peep.
The one who bears the sword may have mandate
From Your eternity to stay up late,
But every act of violence will find
Its recompense upon the ruling blind.
Beloved, the pure church is and always will
Be made up of the humble on the hill,
The swordless and the scattered from the sill
Who serve You only with the hand and tongue
Kept innocent as babes and other young
By Your law and Your grace forever sung.

5 That's why you'll be subject, not just
Because of wrath, but also trust
For conscience sake, as all men must.
6 For this reason pay taxes too,
For they are God's own servants due,
Attending to their duties' view.
7 Return to all their own, the tax
To whom the tax is due, the axe
To whom it does belong, fear those
Whom you must fear, be on your toes
To honour such as in it rose.

The taxes of the Roman guild are made
Upon the church of God in their parade,
And used to feed more soldiers that have stayed
To terrorize the populace unpaid.
There's nothing changed in two millennia
When it comes to the Roman greedy claw.
The budget of the gun dries up the earth
And makes the city sparkle with no worth,
And yet you tell the meek to pay out still
The taxes without complaint of the bill.
Truth is it's suicide to make complaint,
It's deicide to sacrifice a saint,
And so men live in poverty as quaint
Today as when Paul wrote to those who faint.

8 Be not in debt to any one,
But love each other when you've done,
For he who loves fulfilled the law.
9 For this: You shall not put forth claw
To do adultery, you shall not
Kill anybody in a plot,
You'll not bear false witness, and you
Shall not covet the neighbour crew;
And if there is another rule,
It's comprehended in brief school
To love your neighbour as your due.
10 Love works no ill in neighbour's pew,
That's why love fulfils the law's due.

When St. Paul shows the keeping of the law
Is love to neighbour, he takes not in paw
To deny letter of the law is binding.
To keep the letter is love in unwinding.
No one who kills his neighbour does for love,
No one who steals his silver in the shove
Is motivated by his charity.
To break the Sabbath must deprive the ass
Of rest, which is not loving at the pass.
Beloved, let me love keeping Your law still,
Despite Your grace to break it if I will
According to the sermons spoken late
By preachers rude of habit at Your gate.

11 And so as you perceive the age,
That it's time to wake on the stage
And out of sleep: for now has come
Our salvation nearer in sum
Than on the day we heard the drum.
12 The night is far spent, and the day
Is at hand, so let's cast away
The works of darkness, and let's put
On armour of light head to foot.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in
The day; not in riot and sin
Of drunkenness, not in the spin
Of wenching and of wantonness,
Not in strife and envy's address.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
And don't provide for the flesh sliced
To carry out its lusts in mess.

The fleshly lusts are those (after the wine
Not mentioned in the ten commandments' sign),
That ignore Your commands upon the hill
When Moses told the folk to listen still.
On what basis St. Paul is here to add
A burden to obedience I'm glad
To search out from the text and mind I've had.
Both riot and its drunkenness run risk
Of causing awful accidents to disc
Amounting to a murder at the worst
Or at the least a moment to be cursed.
Beloved, I put on Christ indeed, but hope
That putting on of gracious golden rope
Will leave me with the rules I need to cope.

ROMANS 14

1 The one who's weak in faith receive,
But not to doubtful talk in sleeve.
2 For one believes that he may eat
All things that the law gives in treat;
Another who is weak will take
Only the herbs for his health's sake.
3 Let not the eater then despise
The one who refrains from his guise;
And let not him who does not eat
Judge eaters from his judgement seat,
For God's received him at His feet.
4 Who are you to judge one who is
Another's servant for his biz?
He stands or fall and by the whiz
Of his own master and his fizz.
Indeed, he shall be held up high,
For God can do so and not lie.
5 One man considers that one day
Is over every other's sway;
Another takes days as they come.
Let everyone follow the sum
Of his own mind or be a bum.
6 The one who celebrates the day
Does so to the Lord if he'll pray;
And the one who does not do so,
Is still below the Lord's own show.
The one who eats, eats to the Lord,
For he gives God thanks once restored;
And he who does not eat, he stays
To fast before the Lord in praise.
7 For none of us lives to himself,
And no man dies alone on shelf.

You may have been wise to inspire the lay,
And St. Paul may have been wise in his way
When he wrote down the things he had to say.
And yet I have to meet the man or wench
Who takes these word in any sort of stench
Except to excuse gluttony on bench
And Sabbath-breaking in his greedy sway.
The use of text or rather its abuse
Gives reason to be critically abtuse.
Omniscience should have given You the power
To see how the text would be used one hour,
And that You did not stop St. Paul in hand
Implies You are too careless in Your stand,
Unless You meant to give rope to the manned.

8 For if we live, we live unto
The Lord; and if we die, then too
We die unto the Lord: and so
Whether we live therefore, or go,
We are the Lord's, who is not slow.
9 That's why Christ died and rose again
Revived to be the Lord of men,
Both dead and living in their den.

I've heard a hundred reasons for the death
Of Christ upon the cross to lose his breath.
Some say to pay for the worlds sin's, some say
To buy the sinner off from his just stay,
But St. Paul's explanation beats the cake.
He died because men live and die to make
You their Creator by their living's sake
And You their sovereign by their death in stake.
Try as I might, I find no reason here,
Or even rhetoric to beat the gear,
Unless Christ lived and died so to partake
Of common lot of men that does appear
To lie in ambush of all those who fear.
Love will participate in joy and tear.

10 But why do you come out to judge
Your brother? Or why do you fudge
Against your brother? We shall all
Stand before Christ in judgement hall.
11 For it is written, “As I live,
Says YHWH, every knee once shall give
Obeisance to me, and each tongue
Shall confess to God from the lung.”
12 So every one of us shall give
Account to God in how to live.
13 So let us not judge anymore
Each other, but judge rather store
Not to put stumblingblocks before
His brother to make him fall sore.

The call of justice in the single heart,
Though rare today, still has a playing part.
The lonely prophet may lift up a voice
Of judgement on the planet of his choice
When he sees that the law is soiled and spoiled
Beneath the feet of those who have not toiled
But still take up the profit and the gold.
There's time for judgement here and now I'm told.
The words of good St. Paul have their address
Before reality, I do confess,
And in the same breath hold aloft the right
Of every man to take sides in the fight.
And so I judge aloud those who oppress
Me and my peers gone out in woollen mess.

14 I know, and am persuaded by
The Lord Jesus, that there's no cry
Of thing unclean in essence nigh,
But to the one who thinks it is
Unclean, to him it is true biz.
15 But if your brother's grieved the way
You eat, you haven't keep the ray
Of charity toward his stay.
Do not destroy him with your meat
For whom Christ died by judgement's seat.
16 Do not let anyone reproach
The good you do by foot or coach.
17 For the kingdom of God is not
In meat and drink as for things sought,
But righteousness and peace and joy
In the Holy Spirit's employ.
18 For he who in these things serves Christ
Is pleasing to God and sufficed
For men's approval on the die.
19 Let us then follow after things
That make for peace, and in the springs
That edify each other's wings.
20 For meat destroys no work of God.
All things indeed are pure on sod;
But it is wicked for a man
To eat in an offensive span.

I don't suppose St. Paul here means to say
That eating pork in any sort of way
Promotes peace on earth from eternal fray.
Fact is pig farming has some effect on
The epidemics to which men are drawn,
And swine flu still attacks the Muslim child
As well as the Jew in his cap and mild.
The Christian right to eat just anything,
Appealing to St. Paul upon the wing,
Required the lives of some who are still true
To Your law in the things they eat and do.
But freedom to eat ham is greater than
Protection of the lives that others can
Dispense with for their creedal loss of span.

21 It's good neither to eat flesh or
To drink wine or anything's store
Whereby your brother stumbles more,
Or is offended or made weak.
22 Do you have faith? Then keep it so
Before God for yourself in show.
Blessed is the man not to condemn
Himself in what he keeps in hem.
23 And he that doubts is damned if he
Eats, since he does not by decree
Of faith act, for what's not of faith
Is of sin or a sinful wraith.

The faithful rhetoric of St. Paul tells
Us that if you doubt a thing when it swells
It is a sin. Subjective in approval
Of what is sin and not for its removal
Is likely to result in chaos when
It's taken as a guideline among men.
No doubt this word contributes to the loss
Of unity that Christians with their boss
Cannot find in the Protestant wing standing
Beneath the Roman flag, generic handing.
Beloved, I am a doubter, that is true,
But I trow it is no sin in Your view,
Since Thou shalt not doubt is no rule in pew.

ROMANS 15

1 So we who are strong ought to bear
The weakness of the weak and share
Not just to please ourselves to dare.
2 Let each of us take neighbour's part
For his good to build up his heart.
3 For even Christ pleased not himself;
But, as it's written on the shelf,
“Reproaches of those who reviled
You fell on me irreconciled.”
4 For whatsoever things were writ
In times past were for learning fit,
That we through patience and comfort
Of the scriptures might have hope's court.
5 Now the God of patience and plea
Of consolation grant you be
Agreeable to each the other
According to Christ Jesus, brother,
6 So that you might with one mind and
One mouth glorify God to stand
As Father of Lord Jesus Christ.
7 And so receive each other spliced,
As Christ also received us to
God's glory for the things we do.

Both Baptist and the Christian sort of man
Say that no creeds are contained in Your plan.
And yet if we with one mouth come to rant
A rate of creedal joys from plant to plant,
Then Baptist and the Christian fail to see
The truth of St. Paul spouting on his spree.
I too wish that all men with one mind might
Rejoice with one mouth at the blessed sight,
With the condition that all did agree
With what I think I know, agree with me.
Perhaps You too have one foot in the mire,
And have a secret wish and fine desire
That all agree with You when they come round
To dance their rings of joy upon the ground.

8 For I say Jesus Christ would bide
Servant to circumcision's ride
For the truth of God, to confirm
The promises fathers affirm;
9 And that the Gentiles glorify
God for His mercy once come nigh;
As it is written, “For this reason
I shall confess to You in season
Among the Gentiles and so sing
Praises to Your name on the wing.”
10 He says again, “Gentiles, rejoice,
And with His people lift up voice.”
11 And once again, “Now praise the Lord,
You Gentiles all; laud Him adored,
All you the people not abhored.”
12 And once more good Esaias said
“There shall be a root come outspread
From Jesse, and he who shall rise
To reign over the Gentile skies,
The Gentiles shall trust in his guise.

After such proofs that You, Beloved, should take
The Gentiles under wing for grace's sake,
I ought to have faith in that prophecy
And stop to laud Your justice and mercy.
I wait to see the Gentiles in accord
Come to the worship of their sovereign Lord.
Instead I see the idols still stand high
Before the altars under Roman sky,
And hear the din of pagan worship sound
And gyrating make tremble all the ground.
Beloved, I plead the prophecy as Paul
That Gentiles too might come within the wall,
Since I'm a Gentile of each noble race
That You created all around the place.

13 Now God of hope fill you with joy
And peace in faith, so you'll employ
Hope through the power of Holy Ghost.
14 And I myself make certain boast
Of you, my brothers, that you too
Are full of goodness come in view,
Filled with all knowledge, able too
To give advice each other due.

15 Still brothers, I have written more
Boldly to you in sort and score
To put you in mind of the grace
That's given to me from God's place,
16 That I should be the servant made
Of Jesus Christ to the parade
Of Gentiles, serving gospel stayed
Of God, that the offering displayed
Of the Gentiles might meet the grade,
As set apart by Holy Ghost.
17 So have had something I may boast
Through Jesus the Christ in those here
Which are of God and so kept near.
18 For I will not dare speak of such
Things which Christ has not come to touch
In me, to make the Gentiles heed
The law in every word and deed.
19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by
The power of God's Spirit come nigh;
So from Jerusalem, and round
About Illyricum to sound,
I've fully preached Christ's gospel ground.

I too have preached a bit and here and there,
No doubt I've preached the Gospel for my share
Despite the fact I've let the crucifix
Stay on the wall behind my other tricks.
I too can boast a bit, an empty thing,
For having gadded through the world to sing
The Hebrew Scriptures loud and shrill or just
A whisper from my lips upon the dust.
Beloved, the servant class that Paul reports
Is now the patron of both prayers and sports,
And I am at a loss for what to do,
Not fitting in among the sacred crew.
I leave the palaces and ranging courts
And find my faith and solace still in You.

20 Indeed I have striven and preached
The gospel, not where Christ was reached,
Lest I should build upon the breached
Of some other man's work impeached.
21 But it is written, “To whom he
Was not spoken of, they shall see:
And those who have not heard shall know.”
22 For which cause also I've been slow
To come to you, though on the go.
23 But now having no more place here,
And having great desire and dear
To come to you year after year;
24 Whenever I start out for Spain,
I'll come to you, for not in vain
Do I trust to see you as I
Take journeying, and to come nigh
On my way to be there by you,
To take joy in your presence too.

My own excursion off to Spain was not
A missionary journey in the plot,
But just two cars of students out to find
A southern scenery for the Christmas bind.
Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Perpignan until
The Spanish border guards stepped on the sill.
So many years have passed and memory dims,
But like a gem still shines and sounds like hymns
The image of Gaudi's church standing tall
Among the bare steel scaffolds at the wall,
Unfinished then, unfinished now, as must
Be any work of art above the dust.
Beloved, let my prayers too rise up to You,
Unfinished like good Gaudi's in the dew.

25 Now I go to Jerusalem
To serve the saints with gathered gem.
26 For it has please them who live in
Macedonia and the din
Of Achaia to make a sum
Up for poor saints until they come
Up to Jerusalem to win.
27 It has pleased them indeed, and they
Are debtors to them to this day.
For if the Gentiles have been made
Partakers of spirit waylaid,
Their duty is also repaid
To serve them carnal things when stayed.
28 When therefore I have performed this,
And have sealed to them this fruit's kiss,
I will come by you into Spain.

Like Paul, I turned my pilgrims way to go
Into Jerusalem and to bestow
The honour of my prayers beneath the dome
Of temple that aspires still there as home.
Like Paul, I ran aground of rulers too,
And found the gun pointed at heart and shoe
Prevented my from entering at the gate
That leads into the temple mount of late.
I may be one of many too cheap to
Shell out the entrance fee too great to chew.
Instead I wanted to go in and pray
Beside my brother Muslims in their way.
Reciting the Qur'an may have convinced
The guards to let me in, although they winced.

29 And I am sure that, when I come
To you, I shall come in the rum
Fullness of blessing that's sufficed
Indeed of the gospel of Christ.
30 Now I beg you, brothers, and for
The Lord Jesus Christ's sake in store,
And for the love the Spirit shed,
To join me in my prayers as led
To God for me, for me instead,
31 That I may be saved from the lot
Of faithless in Judaean plot;
And that my service which I've done
Jerusalem may then be won
To the saints; 32 So I'll come to you
With joy by God's will kept in view,
And be refreshed and rest with you.
33 And so the God of peace again
Remain with all of you. Amen.

St. Paul is like a preacher I have known
Who ended sermons on a leaving tone
Full twenty minutes before he had done.
Parishioners sat stony-faced and prayed
That he would finish what he had waylaid.
But he went blithely on in hum and drone
While some dozed and some merely sat and stayed.
At this point good St. Paul might call a stop,
But if he had, we'd never have known drop
To follow, namely that Phoebe was called
To be a deacon of a place appalled
That women were ordained of God and men
To do a thing for holiness again.
The battle still continues though ribald.

ROMANS 16

1 I recommend to you Phoebe
Our sister, who has come to be
The deacon of the group called out
At Cenchrea: 2 Keep her about
In the Lord, as becomes such saints,
And so assist her in her plaints
Wherever she has need of you:
For she has been a help in view
Of many and of myself too.
3 Greet Priscilla, Aquila too,
My helpers in Christ Jesus' pew,
4 Who have for my life laid down their
Own necks, to whom I truly bear
Thanks, but also to all the ones
Of the called out of Gentile runs.
5 Likewise greet the called out that be
In their house. Greet my loved friendly
Epaenetus, who's the firstfruit
Of Achaia to Christ in root.
6 Greet Mary, who gave us so much.
7 Greet Andronicus and as such
Junia, my kinsmen, and my mates
In prisonhouse and its estates,
Who are of note among those sent
Before me and in Christ too bent.
8 Greet Amplias who is my dear
In the Lord. 9 Greet Urbane sincere,
Our helper in Christ without fear,
And Stachys my beloved with tear.
10 Greet Apelles approved in Christ.
Salute them which are there sufficed
Of Aristobulus' house spliced.
11 Salute Herodion my kin.
Greet those who are of house and bin
Of Narcissus, those in the Lord.
12 Salute Tryphena and adored
Tryphosa, who work in the Lord.
Greet the beloved Persis, which stayed
To work much in the Lord and prayed.
13 Greet Rufus chosen in the Lord,
And his mother and mine implored.
14 Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon,
Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes drawn,
And the brothers with them restored.
15 Greet Philologus, and Julia,
Nereus, and his sister's paw,
Olympas, and all the saints there.
16 Salute each other with a fair
And holy kiss. The groups of those
Called out in Christ greet you in rows.

The salutation of the holy kiss
Was something held in Zion not to miss,
When Ephrata was active in its bliss.
Today the Baptists join the Protestants
In keeping only two things in their rants:
Baptism and the supper without dance.
In fact the washing of feet should be taken
Along with blessing infants, and unshaken
Agape meal, anointing of the sick, in all to count
The seven holy acts in their amount.
I'm just a Dunkard preacher, pay no mind
To me, though I'm nor dined, bedded, nor wined.
I wait with hat in hand beside the door
To see if anyone steps on the floor.

17 Now I beg you, brothers, mark them
Who cause divisions against hem
Of doctrine that you've learned about;
And avoid those who come to doubt.

How can a man avoid divisions now?
There's not a faith but separates somehow.
The Romans separated from the east,
The Protestants departed from the beast.
The Baptists never did but cleave away,
With four opinions for each three in sway.
The Adventists divided just as soon
As Ellen White lay down with silver spoon,
And argued for the right to rise and kill
Or at the least break Sabbath to their fill
If Kaiser or if Führer called the bill.
Beloved, if not the later thing then see
Samaritan divided from degree
Of Judaism kept on faithfully.

18 Because they're such as do not serve
Our Lord Jesus the Christ, but swerve
To serve there own belly and curve,
By good words and fair speeches make
Lies to the simple in heart's sake.
19 For your obedience has come
Abroad to all. I'm glad in sum
On your behalf: but still I would
Have you wise to that which is good,
And simple of what wicked could.
20 The God of peace shall shortly bruise
Satan under your feet in dues.
Our Lord Jesus Christ's grace again
Remain with all of you. Amen.

Paul should have quit again when he had chance
To storm the souls of Romans with a dance.
His last word here supports obedience,
Which most who follow him think something dense.
I'm glad he kept on preaching though, because
Beside his praising of eternal laws,
He promises that You will shortly take
Revenge on Satan for Your servants' sake.
Beloved, Your law and vengeance is at last
My joy as I see my life going past.
How many trample it and never know,
Ignoring that my presence made a show.
Let me, Beloved, trample down no man here,
And if I do, Beloved, I shed a tear.

21 Timotheus worker and mate,
And Lucius, Jason in state,
And Sosipater, who's my kin,
Salute you all as they begin.
22 I Tertius, who wrote this note,
Salute you in the Lord by rote.
23 Gaius my host, and that of all
The group of called out ones in thrall,
Greets you. Erastus who by call
Is city chamberlain greets you,
And Quartus a brother in pew.
24 Our Lord Jesus Christ's grace again
Remain with all of you. Amen.
25 Now unto Him who is of power
To set you firm by gospel's hour,
And by the preaching of the word
Of Jesus Christ, which has been heard
In mystery revealed but kept
In secret since the world was swept,
26 But now is made both manifest,
And by the prophets' scriptures blessed,
According to commandment of
The everlasting God above,
Made known to all nations and for
Obedience of faith in store:
27 To only wise God, glory's den
Through Jesus Christ ever. Amen.

I love, Beloved, Your servant Paul at last,
After the wordy ways have gone and passed,
He makes an affirmation that will cast
A judgement on all Christian sort of men.
He speaks of You, Beloved, and speaks again
Of You as only wise God in this den
Of thieves and idols standing in the blast.
The declaration of Your unity
Is the first of commandments in decree
Of Sinai and the law writ on the heart.
So bless St. Paul for unitarian part.
The ride to Rome is paved with lies in store,
With idols, trinities, and gods galore,
But in the end there's just One to adore.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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