"Paul, a Slave of Christ Jesus," poetry

Revised Edition: LukivPress (Victoria, BC), 2022.

Introduction

Does righteousness come from works, in particular, from applying the Mosaic Law? If the answer were yes, it would imply that we can earn righteousness. Romans 3:23-24 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and it is as a free gift that they are being declared righteous by his undeserved kindness through the release by the ransom paid by Christ Jesus." A righteous standing before Jehovah, then, refers to a free gift (the gift of everlasting life), undeserved kindness (God provided mankind a means for forgiveness of sins), and Christ's ransom (that means). Who can earn a righteous standing before Jehovah?

Nobody. Romans 3:28 says "a man is declared righteous by faith [in Christ's ransom] apart from works of law." Paul, wanting Christian Jews and Gentiles in Rome to think and worship in unity, wrote the book of Romans. Of course Paul wanted worshippers of Jehovah to worship in unity not just in Rome, but everywhere.

An excerpt (chapter 15)

In a thicket,

A horned ram,

On the altar,

Wood;

An able man,

Willing to die;

In Abraham's hand,

A knife-

Some stories

Repeat themselves.

The author

Dan Lukiv, published in 19 countries, is a poet, novelist, columnist, short story and article writer, and independent education researcher (hermeneutic phenomenology). As a creative writer, he apprenticed with Canada's Professor Robert Harlow (recipient of the George Woodcock Achievement award for an outstanding literary career), the USA's Paul Bagdon (Spur Award finalist for Best Original Paperback), and England's D. M. Thomas (recipient of the Cheltenham Prize for Literature, Orwell Prize [biography], Los Angeles Fiction Prize, and Cholmondeley award for poetry). He attended The University of British Columbia (creative writing department), the acclaimed Humber School for Writers (poetry writing program), and Writer's Digest University (novel writing program).