Introduction to Romans (Wednesday Evening Bible Study)

Introduction to Romans

• Romans is one of the deepest theological books that we have, yet at the same time, turns to practicality in the end. The first 11 chapters are rich in theology and thought, and then Paul shifts gears to practice, how we should be living because of the theology he has been discussing.
• It focuses on the doctrine of salvation, including the practical implications for believers as they live out the salvation given to them through Jesus Christ.
• Different than any of Paul’s other letters
  • There is one thing that stands out making Romans different than any of Paul’s other letters
  • Anyone reading the letters to the Corinthians will immediately feel the difference, both of atmosphere and of method. When Paul wrote to the the church at Rome, he was writing to a church with whose founding he had nothing to do and with which he had had no personal contact at all. 
  • That explains why there are so few of the details of practical problems which fill the other letters and why Romans, at first glance, might seem so much more impersonal.
• Of all of his letters, Romans comes nearest to being a theological treatise (a written work dealing formally and systematically with a subject), but it bears all the marks of a real letter, even though it is a finely tuned literary composition
  • In almost all his other letters, he is dealing with some immediate problem, some pressing situation, some current error, som threatening danger, which was causing trouble for the church to which he was writing.
  • Romans is the nears approach to a systematic exposition of Paul’s own theological position, independent of any immediate set of circumstances 
  • Two views of Paul’s letter
    • Romans has been explained in two ways. First, William Sanday called it testamentary. What he means by that is basically it was almost like Paul was writing his theological last will and testament, as if into Romans he was distilling the very essence of his faith and belief
    • It has also been described as a prophylactic; something which guards against infection. Paul had seen too of\ten what harm and trouble could be causes by wrong ideas, twisted notions, and misguided conceptions of Christian faith and belief. He therefore wished to send to the church in the city that was the center of the world a letter which would build up the structure of their faith that, if infection ever came to them, they might have in the true word of Christian doctrine a powerful and effective defense. He felt that they best protection against the infection of the false teaching was the antiseptic of truth
• Rome was always at the heart of Paul. He longed to visit and encourage the church there. He wanted to use Rome as a base for missions to the west as well
  • Romans 1:11-12 11 For I want very much to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, 12 that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
  • He wrote the letter around AD 58 while he was in Corinth, getting ready to deliver the offerings that had been gathered from all of the other churches Paul has been visiting for the church in Jerusalem.
  • Romans 15:25-26 25 Right now I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints, 26 because Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
• Why write Romans
  • All of Paul’s writings grew out of his missionary/pastoral work and were about the problems and needs of local churches. The book of Romans is also of this genre, but it is the least “local” in the sense that Paul had not yet been to Rome. This letter was his opportunity to expound the good news message (the gospel). He could discuss the essence of sin, the salvation accomplished on the cross, the union of the believer with Christ, how the Spirit works in the Christian to promote holiness, the place of the Jewish people in God’s plan, future things, and Christian living or ethics. Though Paul did not write Romans as a systematic theology, his somewhat orderly exposition has been the fountain for the development of that discipline.
  • Paul’s purpose in writing Romans can be identified from his direct statements in the text and inferred from the content. He expressly wrote that he wanted to impart spiritual strength to the believers at Rome (1:11–12; 16:25–26). He asked for prayer for the difficult task he was undertaking (15:30) and that he might be able to come and see them (15:32). He hoped to enlist the Roman churches to support a mission to the west (15:23–29). The content of the letter shows that the churches experienced tensions between believers from different backgrounds. Paul wanted them to be united and to avoid dissension and false teaching (16:17–18). The content also reveals his exposition of what is essential Christianity and what are matters of indifference.
  • Paul knew that the journey to Jerusalem was not without its dangers. He knew that he had enemies there, and that to go to Jerusalem was to take his life and liberty in his hands. He needed the prayers of the Roman church before he set out on this expedition. He was mobilizing the prayers of the Church before he embarked on this perilous undertaking
  • He was also trying to establish help in Rome to expand his mission outreach even further west…Spain.
    • Romans 15:28-29  28 So when I have finished this and safely delivered the funds to them, I will visit you on the way to Spain. 29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
    • He had this great dream in hi sheart and this great plan in his mind. He needed Rome for a base for this new campaign. He was aware that the church in Rome must have heard of him. But he was also aware that the reports which reached Rome would be mixed. His opponents were not above spreading slanders and false accusations against him. So he wrote this letter to set out for the church an account of the very essence of his belief, so that when the time came for action, he might find in Rome a sympathetic church from which the lines of communication might go out to Spain and the west. It was with such a plan and such an intention that he began to write his letter to the Romans while in Corinth in or around AD 58
• Contribution to the Bibie
  • What is the gospel? The word gospel means “good news.” The good news is about Jesus and what he did for us. Most Bible students would say that the gospel is outlined in 1 Corinthians 15:3–5.
    • 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
  • Romans fills in that outline and clarifies the gospel in relation to the Old Testament promises and the Mosaic law, the role of good works, and the gift of God’s righteousness. Paul emphasized righteousness and justification in this letter to a depth and detail not found elsewhere in the Bible. Sin is traced to its core in our union with Adam and the imputation of original sin. Paul also mapped out the spread of human sin and its results in both believers and nonbelievers.
  • There are three passages in the New Testament (each one long sentence in the Greek text) that contain some of the most important theology of the NT: John 1:14 on the incarnation;
    • 14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
  • Ephesians 1:3–14 about the triune purpose and glory of God;
    • 3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. 11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
  • and Romans 3:21–26 on justification, redemption, and propitiation.
    • 21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
  • If a Christian understands these three sentences, he has a solid foundation for faith.
  • Paul, in Romans 6–8, gave the most comprehensive development of our union with Christ and the Spirit’s work in us. Romans 9–11 (on the role of Israel in God’s plan) has been called the key to understanding the Bible. Romans 13 is the classic New Testament passage on the Christian’s relation to and duties to the state. Romans 14–15 covers how Christians can relate to one another yet have different opinions and convictions on nonessential religious matters.
• Structure
  • Paul wrote thirteen of the twenty-one Letters (or “Epistles”) contained in the New Testament. The four Gospels, the book of Acts, and the book of Revelation are not classified as letters. Romans is the longest of Paul’s letters, and it contains the elements found in a standard letter at that time: salutation (1:1–7); thanksgiving (1:8–17); the main body (1:18–16:18); and a farewell (16:19–24).
  • Romans is both a very complicated and very carefully constructed letter. It will therefore help us to find our way through it if we have in our minds an idea of its framework. It falls into four definite divisions
    • Chapter 1-8 deal with the problem of righteousness
      • When Paul uses the word righteousness, he means a right relationship with God. The person who is righteous is someone who is in a right relationship with God, and whose life shows it
      • Paul begins with a. Survey of the Gentile world. We have only to look at its decadence and corruption to know that it had not solved the problem of righteousness. He looks at the Jewish world. He Jews had sought to solve the problem of righteousness by meticulous obedience to the law. Paul had tried that way himself, and it had resulted in frustration and defeat, because no one on earth can ever fully obey the law, and therefore, everyone must have the continual consciousness of being in debt to God and under his condemnation
      • So Paul finds the way to righteousness in the way of complete trust and total submission. The only way to a right relationship with God I to take him at his word, and to cast ourselves, just as we are, on his mercy and love. It is the way of faith. It is to know that the important thing is not what we can do for God, nor do we need to. The whole matter is one of grace, and all that we can do is accept in wondering love, gratitude, and trust what God has done for us
      • That does not free us from obligations or entitle us to do as we like; it means that we must forever try to be worthy of the love which does so much for us. But we are no longer trying to fulfill the demands of stern, strict, and condemnatory law; we are no longer like criminals before a judge; we are men and women who give and receive love and who have given all like in love to the one who first loved us
    • Chapters 9-11 deal with the problem of the Jews, the chosen people
      • The problem of the Jews was a torturing one. IN a real sense, they were God’s chosen people; and yet, when his Son had come into the world, they had rejected I’m. What possible explanation could there be for this heartbreaking fact?
      • The only explanation that Paul could find was that, in the end, it was all God’s doing. Somehow the hearts of the Jews had been hardened; but it was not all failure, for there had always been a faithful remnant. Nor was it for nothing, for the very fact that the Jews had rejected Christ opened the door to the Gentiles. Nor was it the end of the matter, for in the end the Gentiles would bring in the Jews and all would be saved
      • Paul goes further. Every Jew had always claimed to be a member of the chosen people by virtue of being Jewish by birth. It was solely a matter of pure racial descent from Abraham. But Paul insists that the real Jew is not someone whose flesh-and-blood descent can be traced to Abraham but someone who has made the sam decision of complete submission to God in loving faith that Abraham made. Therefore, Paul argues, there are many pure-blooded Jews who are not Jews in the real sense of the term at all; and there are many people of other nations who are really Jews in the true meaning of that word. The new Israel was not dependent on race at all; it was composed of those who had the same faith as Abraham had
    • Chapters 12-15 deal with practical questions of life and living
      • Chapter 12 of Romans is so great an ethical statement that it must always be set alongside the Sermon on the Mount. In it, Paul lays down the ethical character of the Christian faith. Chapters 14-15 deal with an ever-recurring problem in the church, there was. Narrower party who believed that they must abstain from certain foods and drinks, and how counted special days and ceremonies as of great importance. Paul thinks of them as the weaker Christians because their faith was dependent on ties external matters. There was a more liberal party who had liberated themselves from theses external rules and observances. He this of them as the Christians who are stronger in the faith. He make it quite clear that his sympathies are with the more liberal party; but he lays down the great principle that no one must ever do anything to hurt the conscience of someone who is weaker or anything to hurt the conscience of someone whose beliefs are different. His whole point of view is that we must never do anything which makes it harder for someone else to be a Christian—and that that may well mean the giving up of something, which is right and safe for us, for the sake of the weaker brother or sister. Christian liberty must never be used in such a way that it injures another’s life or conscience
    • Chapter 16 is a letter of introduction for Phoebe, and a list of final personal greetings
      • The fourth section is a recommendation on behalf of Phoebe, a member of the church at Cenchreae, who is coming to Rome. The letter ends with list of greeting and a final benediction
• Outline

I. Introduction (1:1–15)

A. Author and recipients (1:1–7)

B. Paul and the Roman church (1:8–15)

II. The Universal Need of Righteousness (1:16–3:20)

A. Guilt of the Gentile world (1:18–32)

B. Guilt of the Jews (2:1–3:20)

III. Justification: The Imputation of Righteousness (3:21–5:21)

A. The righteousness of God in justification (3:21–26)

B. Justification by faith excludes boasting (3:27–31)

C. Justification and the OT (4:1–25)

D. Justification involves reconciliation (5:1–11)

E. The Christ-Adam analogy (5:12–21)

IV. The New Life in Christ (6:1–8:39)

A. The old self/new self and sin’s dominion (6:1–23)

B. The old self/new self and the Mosaic law (7:1–25)

C. The old self/new self and the Holy Spirit (8:1–39)

V. The Mystery of Israel (9:1–11:36)

A. Israel’s unbelief and the gospel (9:1–29)

B. Israel responsible for its blindness (9:30–10:21)

C. Israel’s rejection is not final (11:1–36)

VI. Exhortations about the Christian Life (12:1–15:13)

A. The living sacrifice (12:1–2)

B. Spiritual gifts in the body of Christ (12:3–8)

C. Christians and non-Christians (12:9–21)

D. The believer’s obligation to the state (13:1–7)

E. The Christian’s motivations (13:8–14)

F. The strong and the weak in the church (14:1–15:13)

VII. Epilogue: Greetings and Travel Plans (15:14–16:27)

A. Paul’s missionary ambitions (15:14–33)

B. Personal greetings (16:1–24)

C. Concluding benediction (16:25–27)