Romans

ROMANS

Of Paul's thirteen letters (epistles) the outline for each is very similar. They generally contain: the sender's name and office, the name of the addressee, a greeting, the main body of the letter, a farewell with closing greetings and the signature of the sender. A striking pattern in all Paul's letters is the two parts to each letter. He always began with teaching based on Theological truths. These "Theological truths" are what we call "doctrine". "Doctrine" is simply, what we believe and why we believe it. Many Christians never understand what doctrines the Bible contains. They miss out on the rich treasure of understanding the heart of God and therefore fail to fully appreciate who God is. The second part of Paul's letters contains practical application of doctrine. In other words, Paul starts off by saying "this is what we believe and here are the reasons why we believe it" and finishes with "therefore, this is how we can put that into action. . ."

1. Put either 'D' if the verse is Doctrine, or 'A' if the verse is an application:

Rom.2:5

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Rom.3:3

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Rom.12:2

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Rom.13:1

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Paul's letters were originally written on papyrus sheets and then bound together and rolled into a scroll. He followed the usual procedure of using a scribe and usually wrote the concluding lines and signature in his own hand to guarantee its genuineness (Rom.16:22; 1Cor.16:22; Gal.6:11; Col.4:18; 2Thess.3:17). Although Paul wrote other epistles (1Cor.5:9; 2Cor.10:9.10; Col.4:16; 2Thess.3:17), God has brought these thirteen letters together to become part of His holy Scripture. Because there was no private mail service in the Roman Empire, Paul used colleagues to distribute his letters and sometimes included personal messages within them (Eph.6:21-22; Phil.2:25-28; Col.4:7-8).

Romans is the most systematic book written by Paul and some would say that it was his greatest. The Poet Colridge regarded Romans as "the most profound book in existence," and the commentator Godet described it as "the cathedral of the Christian faith". Throughout the doctrinal section of the book, Paul uses a question-and-answer format to explore the wonders of our salvation.

THE CHURCH IN ROME

Contrary to the beliefs of some, Peter did not establish the church in Rome.

2. What was Paul's philosophy on pioneering churches and establishing them? Rom.15:20)

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The Church at Rome was more than likely founded by some Jews who had been present on the Day of Pentecost. They probably heard the preaching of Peter. They would have been supplemented by disciples moving there from some of the Asian Churches which Paul had founded. From what Paul said we understand that Gentiles out weighed the Jews in the Church (Rom.1:13;11:13;11:28-31;15:15-16). There were, however, Jews present (Rom 2:17-3:8; 3:21-4:1; 7:1-14).

By the time of Paul, Rome was the greatest city on the face of the earth. With a known population of at least one million and possibly up to four million, it had become a huge city. There would have been numerous Christians there, possibly fellowshiping in several different places (Rom.16:1-16). By the time of Nero in AD 64 Christians were described as "an immense multitude". Paul wrote to the Romans about 56-57 AD while he was in Corinth.

THE PURPOSE OF ROMANS

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jews first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith".

Rom.1:16-17

Unlike Paul's other epistles, Romans was not written to correct any problems in the Church. He wrote it to prepare them for his visit (Rom.1:9-13). Therefore it contains the doctrine of God's plan of salvation. This was in order to lay a foundation for his visit. The letter was also designed to encourage the believers and give them knowledge in order to strengthen their faith.

YOU'RE STANDING ON THE EVIDENCE FOR GOD'S EXISTENCE!

Romans 1:18-25

What is God like? Paul says that we can catch a glimmer of what God is like by looking at His creation. But how else can we tell what God is like? How can we know God? In this section, Paul is about to show us how by starting at the basic problem of man's need before God.

He is about to show why all people stand in need of a Savior. He starts by showing that wrong ideas about God will automatically lead to wrong moral conduct. Yet this need not be the case, for God's nature is clearly evident to all who care to look. Rather than taking a fatalistic point of view about God, Paul shows that man is given every opportunity by God to either get right with Him, or sink further into rebellion. Whatever choice man makes, this is the choice he has to live with. Hence, three times the expression "...therefore God gave them up..." (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) is used by Paul to show that man was responsible for his own actions. The path to moral decline may be graphed as follows-

[1] Suppression of the truth.

The implication of the Greek word suppressis is that it means something which men hold to as if they owned it. The King James translation renders this as "...who hold the truth...". This brings out the aspect of holding onto the truth so that others are prevented access to it. It becomes the first step in a downward spiral: to know the truth, not obey it, and keep others from knowing that truth.

The holding back of the truth is one of the chief objectives of Satan. In fact this word is used to describe the anti-christ in Second Thessalonians 2:10-12. The Devil is described by Jesus as the Father of all lies (Jn.8:44) and those who refuse to submit to God's realm of authority are quick to follow his traits. Suppression of the truth need not necessarily be outright lies. Not giving all the truth is also deception. We who know the truth must be careful in our handling and distribution of it.

[2] Unrighteousness

Holding back the truth leads to living a lie. As well as the very act of deception being unrighteous, so are the results of such an action. Doing those things which our consciences tell us are wrong becomes normal behaviour for those who live a lie. Unrighteousness is not doing right.

[3] Ignoring the evidence

Within every person is an awareness that there must be a Creator to the universe- One who is the moral law giver and reason for the existence of everything. Thinking about the world around us will lead to the conclusion that this is not the result of some random chaotic mindless accident. Some go as far as to suggest that nature itself is God (pantheism). But this is definitely not what Paul is saying. Not everything about God can be known about Him through creation. What we can see is God's awesome eternal power and His tri-une nature (Godhead). Creation does not tell of God's other attributes such as love and mercy. Neither does it speak on behalf of God, or give direction. The revelation of God through creation is called general revelation, while the revelation of God through His absolute truth, the Bible, is called special revelation. Creation is sufficient enough for man to be left without any excuse whatsoever about the existence of the Creator.

[4] Not glorifying God.

Denying the Creator leads to glorifying something else for creation. The tendency in sinful human hearts is to glorify what we can see. Great caution must be exercised in the use of "religious objects". The danger is that these things, while designed to promote godly thinking, actually take our focus away from God.

[5] Unthankful.

Because God is not considered Creator, men would rather blame Him than thank Him. We must not take for granted God's blessings. If we are to be accurate, there is no such thing as a little blessing.

[6] Futile (Foolish) ideas about God.

Men set up ideas about what God is like based on their own imaginations. The King James translates this word as vain. The Greek word carries the idea of "empty, meaningless, waste-of-time". Thus most modern translations translate the word futile. The implication is that their thoughts became idolatrous. The simplest definition of idolatry is- religion without God. Any man-made form of religion without God is empty, meaningless, and a waste of time. Ps.127:1 states- "...unless the LORD builds the house, they that labour, labour in vain".

[7] Idolatry.

The outworking of man's sin always starts in the imagination.

"But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death."

James 1:14-15

Jesus said that adultery, murder and theft all start in the imaginations of the heart (Mtt.15:19).

[8] Immorality.

Much of the formalised idolatry of the past focussed on immoral sexual practises that were designed to bring fertility and blessing to a person's life. It is the natural flow on from a heart that does not acknowledge God or His laws of conscience. Paul is highlighting the two roads that are available to every person: man's, and God's.

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

i. The problem (ALL HAVE SINNED) Rom.3

ii. The hope (GOD LOVES US) Rom.5

iii. The penalty (SIN BRINGS DEATH) Rom.6

iv. The promise (BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART) Rom.10

v. The practise (PRESENT YOUR BODIES) Rom.12

1. ALL HAVE SINNED

Romans 3

"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

Rom.3:23

3. What is the problem contained in this verse?

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4. How many people are affected by this problem?

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5. How do we know what sin is? Rom.3:20

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6. Why do you think Paul addresses this problem first in the teaching about God's plan of salvation?

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7. Is it still relevant today, to pose this same problem to the world?

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2. GOD LOVES US

Romans 5

"But God demonstrated his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Rom.5:8

8. Despite the problem, what do we know about God's attitude toward us?

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9. Despite the problem, what action did God make toward us?

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10. Accepting what God did for us by faith, we are justified. What do we have then through our Lord Jesus Christ? Rom.5:1

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11. Because we accepted what Christ did for us, we will experience tribulations. What will these tribulations eventually produce?

a)

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b)

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c)

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12. Even though we go through these things, what do we know about God's attitude toward us? Rom.5:8

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3. SIN BRINGS DEATH

Romans 6

"For the wages of sin is Death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"

Rom.6:23

13. What is the penalty for sin?

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14. What could this mean? (Rev. 21:8)

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15. If Jesus Christ has died for our sin, and forgiven us of all our sins, why don't we just keep on enjoying the pleasures of sin? (Rom.6:1-2)

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16. What sort of people will undergo the penalty mentioned in Romans 6:23?

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17. Therefore, what should we be doing?

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FRUIT OF SIN

FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Death

Life

Pain

Health

Misery

Joy

Suffering

Bliss

Frustration

Contentment

Friction

Unity

Uncertainty

Security

"FLESH"

Used five ways by Paul:

1 The humanity of Christ.... 1:3

2 The Physical Body.... 2:28

3 Mankind.... "all flesh".... 3:20

4 Moral weakness.... 6:19

5 Ethical.... chapters 7-8

 

4. BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART

Romans 10

"For if you believe in your heart Jesus is Lord and confess with your mouth that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Rom.10:9-10

18. Based on Romans 7:14-15, is sin defeated once and for all in our lives? Or do we continually battle with it?

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19. Christ has done away with the penalty for sin for those who accept this work. What can't the devil do legally to us? (Rom.8:1)

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Romans chapter eight contains some strong words of encouragement to all believers. It deals with our new relationship to God because of Jesus, whereby we can now call Him 'daddy'. It says that God understands the troubles we have here on earth, but wants us to know that something far better awaits us (Rom.8:18). It says that the Holy Spirit is our intimate prayer partner. He swiftly carries our requests to the Father (vs 26-27). It states that God has got everything under control and will only allow that which is good for us to come into our lives (vs 28). Then finishes by saying that God is fighting in our corner right along side of us and that His love is immeasurable toward us (vs 31ff).

20. How do we accept salvation?

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21. What does 'believe' mean? (Refer to an Amplified Bible)

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* Please refer to the appendices for comments on Romans 9, 10, and 11.

5. PRESENT YOUR BODIES

Romans 12

"I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

Rom.12:1

From here Paul talks about applying what we believe. Verses two to twenty-one contain some of the most practical application of Christian doctrine in the Word of God. The next four chapters continue to build upon the application of what Paul has just written.

22. What did Paul say to do to those who refused to apply these doctrines? (16:17)

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23. What would their obedience to the faith result in? (16:20)

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Amen.

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New Testament Survey

© 2001 Andrew Corbett, Legana, Tasmania

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