The Book of Romans

Lesson OneExploring the Riches of Romans

Augustine – 386 ADRomans 13:13-14

“13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

Augustine“No further would I

read, nor had I any need; instantly, at the end of this sentence, a clear light flooded my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away.”

Martin Luther“I greatly longed to understand Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, ‘the righteousness of God,’ because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous … Night and day I pondered until … I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith.

Martin LutherThereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before ‘the righteousness of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven.”

John Wesley“… went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans … About a quarter before nine while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken my sins away, even mine; and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

Karl Barth

Paul’s words had a powerful impact upon Barth, and his exposition, we are told by Dr. Karl Adam; fell

“like a bombshell on the theologian’s

playground.”

Martin Luther“This Epistle is the chief book of the New Testament, the purest gospel. It deserves not only to be known word for word by every Christian, but to be the subject of his meditation day by day, the daily bread of his soul … The more time one spends in it, the more precious it becomes and the better it appears.” He spoke of it as “a light and way into the whole Scriptures …”

John Calvin said of it “when any one understands this Epistle, he has a passage opened to him to the understanding of the whole Scriptures.”

Coleridge pronounced Romans “the most profound work ever written!”

Meyer considered it “the greatest and richest of all the apostolic works.”

Godet referred to it as “the cathedral of the Christian faith.”

Gordon H. Clark recently wrote of Romans that it is “the most profound of all the epistles, and perhaps the most important book in the Bible …”

Hamilton, in his recent commentary on Romans, calls it “the greatest book in the Bible.”

A Personal Challenge• First, pray that God would use this book in your life,

in a powerful way. Expect God to speak to you, and pray that He will.

• Second, set some specific goals for your own study. Determine when and how you will study Romans during the week.

• Third, follow through with your study of the Book of Romans. I am convinced that those whose lives were transformed were those who worked hard at studying Romans. Don’t expect God to transform your life apart from your own thorough search of these Scriptures.

Proverbs 2:1-5

1 My son, if you accept My words and store up My commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, 3 and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

The Relationship Between Paul and the Church at Rome

No one actually knows when the church of Rome was founded or by whom.

We do know that at the time of Paul’s writing, there was a church in Rome made up of both Jews and Gentiles.

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being reported all over the world.” Romans 1:8

Paul had wanted to visit Rome and the saints there, but up to this point

in time he had not been able to do so.

Romans 1:8-10

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

Romans 1:11-1511 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some

spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. 14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.

Romans 15:22-25

22 This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. 23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you, 24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there.

Romans 15:26-29

26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.

Acts 18:1-2

1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them.

Acts 28:14b-15

14b … And so we came to Rome. 15 The brothers there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged.

The Time and Place of the Writing of Romans

Paul’s comments in Romans 1:8-15 and 15:22-29, when compared to the events of Acts 18:1-2 and 20:3, 6, 18, definitely point to a time late in 57 or early 58 A.D.

The place of writing seems quite clearly to be Corinth.

F.F. Bruce wrote,“The copy which was taken to Rome was certainly treasured in the church of that city, and survived the persecution of AD 64. About AD 96 Clement, ‘foreign secretary’ of the Roman church, shows himself well acquainted with the Epistle to the Romans; he echoes its language time and again in the letter which he sent in that year on behalf of the Roman church to the church in Corinth. The way in which he echoes its language suggests that he knew it by heart; it could well be that the Epistle was read regularly at meetings of the Roman church from the time of its reception onwards … From the beginning of the second century Paul’s letters circulated as a collection—the corpus Paulinum—and not singly.”

Tracing the Righteousness of God Through

the Book of Romans

The predominant theme of the Book of The predominant theme of the Book of Romans is the righteousness of God.Romans is the righteousness of God.

Romans 1:1-15Romans 1:16-17First, the gospel is the “power of God for the

salvation” of both Jews and Gentiles.Second, the gospel reveals the righteousness of

God.

The Righteousness of GodRevealing the Unrighteousness

Of ManRomans 1:18 – 3:20

Paul’s purpose in this section is not only to demonstrate man’s sin, and thus his need for a righteousness that is of God, but to show us that man’s sin actually demonstrates God’s righteousness.

This is precisely what Paul concludes in chapter 3:

“But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say?” (Romans 3:5a).

Two Major Thrusts

Self-indulgent Sinners – Chapter One

- those on and through whom the wrath of God is presently being revealed

Self-righteous Sinners – Chapter Two

- those whose judgment is viewed as future

God’s righteousness is demonstrated by His judgment of sinners, sinners of either kind—the self-indulgent or the self-righteous.

God’s righteousness is seen not only in the fact that He judges sinners, but also in that He judges them impartiallyimpartially.

The righteousness of God requires His wrath to be expressed toward unrighteousness.

The Jews prided themselves in their privileged position and in their

possession of the Law, but they failed to practice it.

Paul shows that possession of the Law (symbolized by circumcision) was of no value unless the Law was also practiced.

There is even greater condemnation for those who have the greater revelation of the Law and yet fail to meet its demands.

God’s RighteousnessGod’s righteousness is revealed by the way

that He judges unrighteousness. God condemns sinners without partiality.

He has no “favorites” whose sin He overlooks. He judges men impartially and righteously in that He judges men on the basis of the revelation given to them.

First Question:If the possession of the Law did not make the

Jew better than anyone else, “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?”

Paul’s answer was that while being a Jew did not make one righteous, it did give one the great privilege of being entrusted with God’s Word.

Second Question:Does man’s unbelief, man’s unfaithfulness to

God, reflect on God’s faithfulness to man? If the revelation of God in nature and in the Law has not made any man righteous, but has only proven man to be unrighteous, what does this say about God? Has God failed?

Man’s failure has demonstrated the righteousness of God.

Third Question:Can God be righteous when He has created

men who are sinners, and when He has provided a revelation which only seems to produce unrighteousness rather than righteousness? Has God’s purpose of revealing His own righteousness by demonstrating man’s unrighteousness backfired, so that God is made to look evil?

Paul merely states that the condemnation of such people is just.

Paul concludes……that Jews are no better than Gentiles and that both

are unrighteous, guilty before God. He draws together a series of quotations from the Old Testament which describe man’s fallen, sinful condition, a condition which is universal and which is true of Jew and Gentile alike.

The Law was given to those under the Law, not to make them superior to those who did not have the Law, nor to make them righteous, but to demonstrate their unrighteousness. The Law revealsreveals man’s need of righteousness; it does not provide men with righteousness. The Law is not the solution.

The Law is to salvation what an x-ray is to a cure.

How, then, is man ever to obtain righteousness?

The Law reveals man’s problem:

He is unrighteous, under the wrath of a righteous God.

Man’s unrighteousness demonstrates God’s righteousness.

The Righteousness of God in Saving Unrighteous Men

If God was shown by Paul to be righteous by His response to the unrighteousness (sin) of men in judgment (1:18–3:20), He is now shown to be righteous by His response to man’s sin in providing salvation (3:21–5:21).

The righteousness God has provided is that which Jesus Christ accomplished,

a righteousness based upon His person and His work.

This righteousness is that which men receive as a free gift, as a gift of grace,

and not as the result of human effort or Law-keeping. Since this righteousness is independent of man’s works, and since it

is offered to both Jews and Gentiles alike, men have nothing to boast about when they are declared righteous.

In saving men in this way, the righteousness of God is revealed, just

as in His condemnation of men.

Abraham David

Circumcision

RighteousnessRighteousness….living according to the standards of

God’s righteousness, as revealed in the Law, is the result of faith and not the result of works.

Works are the RESULT of righteousness, not the cause.

The gospel…The gospel……has not really changed from the Old

Testament to the New. This is why both Jews and Gentiles are saved in the same way, by the same gospel. This is why both Jews and Gentiles are saved by faith, apart from Law-keeping.

The Law only condemns; it only shows how far short of God’s righteousness men fall.

Faith……rests in the person and in the promises of

God. Faith believes God and receives the forgiveness of sins and the gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ.

The gospel which Paul preached, and which the Roman saints had received, offered the same righteousness (the righteousness of Christ) through the same means (faith), apart from works.

God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, to make us righteous, while we were still

sinnerssinners.

If God did this for us while we were still His enemies (the greater work), then surely He will now keep us and preserve us from His wrath now that we are forgiven and are His children (5:8-10).

“Greater than”In the final verses of chapter 5, man’s

unrighteousness is taken back to its original source—the sin of Adam.

Who is the greater of the two, Adam or Who is the greater of the two, Adam or Christ?Christ?

Christ is the greater of the two, far greater. If this is so, then we can be assured that the results of Christ’s righteousness overcome and overshadow the results of Adam’s unrighteousness.

The Righteousness of God Is the Goal of Salvation

Paul very clearly indicates not only what we have been saved FROM (Ephesians 2:1-3), but also what we have been saved FOR (Ephesians 2:10).

While our efforts to produce good works can never save us, when God provided salvation, He provided us with a salvation that results in good works.

The Righteousness of God Is the Goal of Salvation

In Romans 6-8 Paul takes up his argument at the point of

salvation, showing that salvation requires righteousness, which is

beyond our own capabilities, but that God has given us provision for

righteous living.

Briefly…Romans 6 instructs us that righteousness is a

requirement for the Christian. Romans chapter 7 teaches us that while

righteousness is required, it is nevertheless humanly impossible, due to the weakness of our flesh and the power of sin.

In Romans 8, Paul explores the divine provision for righteousness—the Holy Spirit, by whose power Christians can fulfill the righteousness which the Law commanded and which God still requires.

Chapter 6 begins with the question, “What shall we say, then? Shall we

go on sinning so that grace may increase?”

If grace outruns sin, then why not continue in sin so that grace can increase in greater measure? Once we have been saved, our sins forgiven, and heaven has become a certain hope, why not continue to live as we once did?

A decision is called for by Paul, a decision to cease presenting our bodies as instruments for accomplishing sin and to present our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness.

We are the slaves of that to We are the slaves of that to which we give ourselves.which we give ourselves. We will either become slaves of

righteousness or slaves of sin.

There IS a problem…Now, in Christ, we have the desire to do what is

right, but no power to accomplish it. Sin still gets the best of us. We do what we hate (sin), and we cannot do what we love (righteousness). The Law is not the problem, for we agree with what the Law requires and forbids. The problem is with our flesh, which cannot overcome the greater power of sin. The righteousness for which we were saved, and which we are obligated to perform, WE are unable to achieve.

A Divine SolutionGod has provided His children, those

whom He has saved, with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Those who walk in the Spirit are able to overcome the power of sin and to practice that righteousness which God requires through the Law (see Romans 8:4).

Our righteousness will not be complete until we are in heaven.

The Holy Spirit……is God’s provision for our

present inadequacies, helping us in our time of weakness,

interceding for us with God, even when we are not able to express our groanings with

words.

The Righteousness of God in History

(Romans 9-11)God is impartial in condemning sin, but He

deals differently with those He condemns.

Those who have not received the revelation of God’s righteousness in the Law are judged apart from the Law and only in accordance with what has been revealed to them.

Those who have received the Law are judged by its standards

(Romans 1 and 2).

Throughout history God has always dealt impartially with men, but He has

also distinguished between the Jews and the Gentiles.

These dealings of God with men in history are summed up in

chapters 9-11.

A Problem…

God had made certain promises of salvation to the Jews in the Old Testament.

The nation Israel had rejected Jesus as their Messiah, and now the gospel was being proclaimed to the Gentiles as well.

A Problem…In verses 1-5 of chapter 9, Paul begins by

revealing his own heart with respect to the Jews.

These are a privileged people, but the restoration of Israel and the fulfillment

of God’s promises to this nation will not be fulfilled until later in history, as

Paul is about to demonstrate.

In chapter 9……Paul defends the righteousness of God by

expounding the doctrine of election. In proportion to the Jewish population, only a few Jewish saints could be found. This seemed to puzzle the Jews, because they thought that the promised blessings of God would be poured out on all the descendants of Israel (Jacob). In fact, they seemed to think that being the physical seed of Abraham assured them of these blessings (see Matthew 3:9; Romans 4:10-17).

““For not all who For not all who are descended from are descended from Israel are Israel.”Israel are Israel.”

Through the principle and process of election, God continued to restrict His blessings to some of the descendants of Israel, but not to all.

Election = Unfair?It is exactly the opposite. It is exactly the opposite. Election is precisely that means of God’s blessing

some which demonstrates His righteousness.

“9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:9-11).

By verse 20 of chapter 3, Paul has concluded that there is NONE who does good, and that ALL men (Jew and Greek alike) do that which is evil.

This means that the justice of God requires that ALL men be punished, and that NONE deserve God’s blessings of glory, honor, and peace.

God’s mercy…God’s mercy……joins forces with His justice, so that

salvation is provided, in a way that satisfies both God’s mercy and His righteousness.

Jesus Christ, God’s beloved Son, died for sinners, bearing the Father’s wrath toward sinners.

How is it determined?There are two answers to this question,

provided in Romans 9 and 10. In Romans 9 Paul tells us that God chooses

those whom He will bless, and those who will continue on the path to their own judgment.

The basis of this choice is crucial, for the righteousness

of God is at issue.

Men will be blessed on the basis of the righteousness of Christ, not on

the basis of their own works.

God cannot choose to bless men on the basis of their “goodness” or on the basis of the good works that they will do, for we have already seen that ALL mankind is sinful, unrighteous, and falls under divine condemnation.

To have the choice rest only with God is the only basis on which God’s

blessings and cursings could be righteously imparted.

All men could have been righteously condemned, because all sinned. No one should have been blessed, for none merited God’s blessings. But God chose to pluck some from the wrath and destruction their sins required and to bestow His blessings upon them, based upon the death of Jesus for their sins, and HIS righteousness.

From the beginning God planned to save some Jews and some Gentiles, based upon His sovereign choice.

God is just in judging some sinners, and He is both merciful and just in saving and blessing other sinners.

And God is just in saving and rejecting both Jews and Gentiles so that He shows no partiality.

On What Basis??The first answer, of Romans 9, is that the

basis is the sovereign choice of God—divine election.

The second answer, found in chapter 10, is human responsibility: men are condemned because they reject God’s revelation and His provision and choose to persist in striving on their own.

Why?- Why are some men blessed?

Because God chose them for blessing.

- Why are some men blessed?

Because God’s offer of blessing was offered them, and they accepted it, by faith.

Why?- Why are some men condemned to

eternal suffering?

Because God chose to allow them to suffer the consequences of their own choices and not to override their condemnation with salvation and blessing.

God always preserved a remnant of His people Israel, through whom His promises

could be fulfilled.

Who would have ever thought of this plan?

Truly God is not only righteous, loving, and merciful;

He is also infinitely wise!

The Righteousness of God Reflected by Believers

(Romans 12-15)

The righteousness of God is to be reflected (partially and imperfectly) in His children.

The broad forms this righteousness should take are outlined by Paul in chapters 12-15.

SacrificeRather than presenting animals and other

items as a sacrifice, we are to present ourselves (Romans 6).

We are to serve God by setting aside those attitudes and practices of the world in which we live, and to be renewed in our minds with the knowledge of that which is the will of God, which is both good and pleasing to Him (Romans 12:1-2).

The first area……of sacrificial service is in using the spiritual

gifts which God has given us for service.

Every gift is to be employed in a way that will serve God and benefit others.

Chapter 12 ends with more general principles which are to guide us in our conduct and in our relationships with others (12:9-21).

In Chapter 13…Paul turns to the Christian’s practical

righteousness in relationship to the government which God has placed in authority over him (13:1-7).

The Christian is to regard the authority of government as having come from God, and thus one should obey government as unto the Lord unless there are very exceptional circumstances.

In Romans 14:1–15:3…

Paul lays down principles for relating to one another as Christians when we see things differently, based upon our maturity or upon different convictions.

We are not to exercise our rights in ways that would cause another to stumble. We are to strive to strengthen others, not to hinder them. We are to use our strength to serve the weak rather than to benefit ourselves.

In Chapter 15……Paul closes in much the same way he

began this Epistle.

Christians are to accept one another and not fall into disunity and divisiveness. If God shows no partiality, then WE too must avoid racial prejudice and

tensions.

Paul’s Postscript (Romans 16)

Chapter 16 is primarily Paul’s closing of this letter with personal words of greeting and with final words of exhortation.

While Paul may not yet have reached Rome, he knew of many of the saints there by name.

His concern for the saints in this city was far from minimal.

Factors to Consider:1. Romans focuses on the great

themes of the Bible.Romans is a book that deals with the major

themes and doctrines of the Word of God and which does not focus on others.

Perhaps no other book of the Bible is so all-encompassing in its outlook and approach:

James I. Packer:“…In Romans, Paul brings together and sets out in

systematic relation all the great themes of the Bible—sin, law, judgment, faith, works, grace, justification, sanctification, election, the plan of salvation, the work of Christ, the work of the Spirit, the Christian hope, the nature and life of the Church, the place of Jew and Gentile in the purpose of God, the philosophy of the Church and of world history, the meaning and message of the Old Testament, the duties of Christian citizenship, the principles of personal piety and ethics.”

Christians can become so entangled in the particulars of

Christianity that they lose sight of the great principles.

Factors to Consider:2. Romans is gospel-centered.

There is no other book of the Bible which so fully expounds the gospel as Romans.

If you would understand the gospel, go to Romans.

Why (in Romans 1:15) does Paul say he desires to preach the gospel to his

audience in Rome, when they are already believers?

(1) The gospel is never understood as fully by the Christian as it could and should be.

(2) The gospel is constantly being distorted.

(3) The gospel is not only that truth by which we are saved and that truth by which others are saved as we bear witness, it is also that truth which is the standard for our daily lives.

Why is the gospel so important?

The gospel is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes,”

and

“in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed” (Romans 1:16-17).

Factors to Consider:3. Romans is God-centered.

It is God who is to be central and preeminent, not men. It is we who are to orient our lives to Him.

I would like to suggest that the righteousness of God is that attribute of God’s character which makes His other attributes all the more glorious.

The righteousness

of God.

The Book of Romans

Lesson OneExploring the Riches of Romans

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