Romans

I'm supposed to get through the Bible in a year, but it's going to take me a year just to get through Romans.  I'm having to read each chapter three or four times to understand it, and then I think I've gotten it comprehended, and I go on to the next chapter and I've forgotten it all again.

I've ordered an English Standard study bible through Amazon.  It should be here Thursday.  I'm hoping it's easier to read.  Right now I'm using The Cambridge Annotated Study Bible which is a New Revised Standard Version.  I've always thought I was pretty intelligent, but I can't break through the rhetorical language that Paul is using in Romans especially without background knowledge of the Law and of the historical context at the time.

I understand that he's speaking to the Jews in the church who have raised questions regarding the Law. Where does the Law fit within this new Christian context?  Is it to be done away with?  To be forgotten completely?  How can the Gentiles hope to be righteous without obeying the Law?

I get it.  It kind of reminds me of when I go into a new school district to restructure their intervention system, and I'm having to convince them that they need to get rid of the teaching methods/programs that aren't working.  Change is scary.  Change is scarier when it directly affects your salvation.

I never ever ever ever ever thought I'd be lying in my bed night after night reading chapters in the Bible.  Now I can't make it to sleep at a reasonable hour.

"Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives sleep to his beloved." Psalms 127:1-2