LESSON 5

THE STORY OF ROMANS

Introduction:
  • In the Gospels we find the Story of Jesus, that is, the story of his life that led up to his death and resurrection, which story forms the story of the Bible, or the story of God’s plan for redeeming mankind from the bondage of sin.
  • This story began to be told by the Apostles and other apostolic men (Peter, John, Paul, Phillip, Barnabas, Silas and others) in the book of Acts as the disciples carried out the great commission to preach the gospel to all nations. Jesus had further instructed them in Acts to begin in Jerusalem, then to move to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Finally in Acts we find the Apostle Paul in Rome, in house prison, but preaching the gospel even to those of the Imperial court!
  • It is interesting, but perhaps only coincidental,  that in our bibles the Letter to the Romans follows immediately after The Book of Acts - Acts records the beginning of the preaching and Rome represents the end of the world!
     
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    The Epistles of the New Testament:
  • As we have previously learned, our New Testament contains 21 letters or epistles to churches and individuals.
  • 13 of these epistles are traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul.
  • The nature of these Pauline Epistles varies, some are written to churches, some to individual co-workers of Paul, some to church leaders such as Philemon.
  • These Pauline Epistles cover local church problems, personal concerns, and sometimes broader church instruction.
  • Each of the epistles explains how the Story of Christ should impact church or Christian ministry and life.
     
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    The Story of Romans:
  • Romans was written by the Apostle Paul in approximately AD 58, sometime around the close of his third missionary journey (Rom 15:18-29).
  • Having completed his ministry in Asia, Macedonia, and Eastern Europe Paul wanted the churches in Rome to assist him in a mission endeavor in Spain (Rom 15:24).
  • To the best of our knowledge, there was not one large or central church in Rome, as in Corinth or Ephesus, but several house churches (Rom 16:1-23)
  • Note that the letter was not addressed to the church in Rome, but to "al of God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints." (Rom 1:17).
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  • We do not know when the church was first planted in Rome, but apparently it was not started by Paul:
  • It was most likely started by Jewish Christians who returned home to Rome after being converted on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem (Acts 2:9-11).
  • Paul had never visited Rome prior to writing this letter (Rom 1:10 – 15; 15:22).
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  • As a missionary, Paul is explaining his purpose for a visit to Rome:
  • He wants to strengthen their faith (Rom 1:17; 16:25-27).
  • He wants them to assist him financially on his trip to Spain (Rom 15:24 "be sped on my journey" is a technical term in Greek [propempo] which implies financial help.)
  • He lays out his apostolic credentials (Rom 1:1 he is a called apostle set apart by God to be an apostle to the Gentiles, see also Acts 9:13-15 re4gardiing Saul’s [Paul’s] conversion.)
  • He explains the gospel message he plans to preach in Spain, which is the same as he has always preached:
  • The whole world is under the power of sin (Rom 3:9)
  • The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23)
  • Both Jew and Gentile (without distinction Rom 2:11; 3:22) are saved only by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and not by the law (Rom 3:19, 20; 21-24)
  • The law of Moses cannot save, for it never was intended to save, only to clarify sin, hold the Jew accountable for sin, and to indict the Jew for sin (Rom 3:19, 20; 7:7)
  • The law is holy, just, good and spiritual, but it cannot save (Rom 7:12, 14)
  • Righteousness has always been by faith in God, even before the law was given (Abraham - Rom 4:1-5), and under the law (David - Rom 4:6-8; 4:13-16).
  • Being under grace does not excuse the believer from living above sin (Rom 6:1-14)
  •  By being baptized we die to our old life pf sin and "old man"
  •  By being baptized we are united with Christ
  •  By being baptized we live a new life in Christ
  •  By being baptized we are freed from slavery to sin
  •  By being baptized we live for righteousness, not for sin, and are dead to the allure of sin (see also Col 2:12, 13; 3:1-3)
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  • Since we are saved by God’s mercy and grace, we must live differently from the world:
  • We present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God (Rom 12:1)
  • We are not shaped by the world but by the renewal of our mind (Rom 12:2)
  • We are led by the Spirit, not be the flesh (Rom 8:5-11; Gal 5:16-24)
  • We use our gifts in God’s service (Rom 12:3-8)
  • We treat people differently (Rom 12:9-21)
  • We do not judge one another for we are all God’s servants and he will do the judging (Rom 14, 15)
  • We welcome (accept) the weak for teaching and edification, just as Christ welcomed us for the glory of God (Rom 14:1; 15:7)
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  • Because we are under grace and not law, but live by faith in Jesus, we are not condemned, but are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Rom 8:1; 31-39)
  • If God, the Holy Spirit, and Christ are for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:26-31).
     
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    Important Texts from Romans:
  • Rom 3:9
  • Rom 3:19, 20
  • Rom 3:21-24
  • Rom 5:1-5
  • Rom 6:1-14
  • Rom 8:1
  • Rom 8:21-39
  • Rom 12:1,2
  • Rom 12:3-8
  • Rom 12:9-21
  • Rom 14:1-4; 13; 15:1, 7
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