Romans 1:1-20 Study

Review of Covenants/Promises made between God and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Genesis 12:1-3 – Abraham

English Standard Version Chapter 12

12 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 26:2-5 – Re-iteration to Isaac

English Standard Version Chapter 26

2 And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Genesis 28:13-15 – Promise to Jacob

English Standard Version Chapter 28

13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Genesis 35:11-12 – God changed Jacob’s name to Israel

English Standard Version Chapter 35

11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”

Keep these in mind as they will be important later into Romans (We’ll review again when we get to that point)

Overview of Romans

Romans is written by Paul who was an apostle chosen by God in an unconventional way

(Go over story if one doesn’t know this story)

To be an apostle, you had to have been a witness to Jesus’ resurrection – meaning there are no more apostles alive today

Other notable apostles: the 11 disciples chosen by Jesus (Matthias replaced Judas in Acts 1:26 to make it 12 again), Barnabas, and James (Jesus’ brother)

After Pentecost happened, and the apostles/disciples were able to speak in tongues to people of all nations, those who returned to their countries brought the gospel with them – and many began churches.

The Roman church was started by a group of Jews who was at Pentecost, the church grew and now had a good mix of both Jew and Gentile – and they have eagerly been wanting Paul to visit them

they’ve been feeling left out because before Paul wrote to the Romans he already wrote and visited the Thessalonians and Galatians. When Paul wrote Romans he was already on his 3rd mission in Corinth (AD 57)

The books/letters to these churches (Thess. & Galatians) were also already counted as scripture, and II Peter 3:15-16 discusses this:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Romans is easily the most important theological texts we have as Christians

Disclaimer: There are going to be challenging concepts and deeper truths that we will go over in the following weeks, and if there is anything you struggle with let me know. The study will probably mold/change as we go, but if you have questions, ask me

Romans 1:1-17

English Standard Version Chapter 1

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Paul’s Intro

Notice right off the back Paul introduces himself as he typically does in his other letters.

But more specifically he introduces himself as a “servant” of Christ Jesus

or even more specifically : a “Bond-servant”

Or one subject to the will and wholly at the disposal of another

this word is also associated with the disciples (1 Cor. 7:21-23)

Uniquely, however the prophets and the kings of Isreal were officially “the servants of the Lord” — the apostles called themselves “the servants of Christ” noting such absolute subjection and devotion to Jesus

See that Paul also had to justify his apostleship (Romans 1:1)

he has had to do so his entire missionary life due to his unorthodox beginning

Gospel of God (Romans 1:1-2)

everything up until this point has been ordained, foreshadowed (by prophets), and orchestrated by God (all of scripture is “God-Breathed”)

notice the change in language that is used to explain Jesus in Romans 1:3-4:

He was a descendent of David according to the flesh, but was declared to be the Son of God based off what He did/said — similarly to what Isaiah say in Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given...”

The conclusion is that Jesus' Sonship is not something that began with His birth—it has always existed(John 1:1). His birth simply made it visible and tangible in the world.

“...For obedience to the faith...” or rather: “For the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5)

that is, in order for us to submit ourselves to the belief of the Gospel, which is the highest of all obedience including the Gentiles who are considered “the called” described in Romans 1:6

Paul’s address to the Church (Romans 1:7)

what does it mean to be “God’s Holy people”?

“Holy People/Saints” = hagios (Greek) = sanctuary ==> all believers are considered saints because we are a sanctuary for the Holy Spirit

when the vail (the curtains that contained the spirit of God in the temple) tore at Jesus’ death, the Holy Spirit no longer resided in the temple behind the vail, and instead was given to the believers

this makes us the sanctuary for the HS now

Paul's Longing to Visit Rome

Romans 1:8 “… your faith is being reported all over the world...”

this is the reason Paul has yet to visit Rome, not that he hasn't wanted to, but because there were other churches that needed serious help

a church that has been revered all over the world, that is rich, not all that persecuted, etc doesn’t necessarily take precedent over a church that faces the opposite of these things, right?

however, it has not stopped Paul from constantly praying for them

Romans 1:11-12

The “gift” in v11 is Paul himself

Not because he is prideful, but rather because he knows the impact he and his teachings have on the churches

but also, that since this church has been revered for their faith that they may benefit from the encouragement that comes from spending time together, and that by giving he shall receive

Romans 1:13-15

again, a strong in faith, Jewish-led, rich church was not a priority compared to the church of Corinth, or Galatia, etc

Romans 1:16-17

This is Paul’s thesis for Romans

Salvation being the overall theme, but also he answers: “What is the Gospel (really), and what it isn’t”

“...First to the Jew, then the Gentile.” every time Paul would do a mission in a city/town/nation he would always begin his mission at the synagogues first, then when he is almost always expelled he moves to the Gentile part and begins to preach there

Ro. 1:17 the gospel revealed the righteousness of God

There are 3 key parts to his thesis statement

The message of the gospel is a message of righteousness

righteousness means innocent, just, being right and is the opposite of sinfulness/wrogndoing

obtaining righteousness is a central dilemma for humans

we all recognize what is wrong in us that causes us to sin, and strive to do what is right

But who determines what is “Right”?

leading us to the second part of Paul’s thesis

The righteousness of the gospel is that “of God’

the righteousness we need to seek is the righteousness of God as He is the Creator and Law Giver and Judge — it is He who determines what is “right”

so we can conclude that:

that is of God = Righteous

everything else = unrighteous

Our pursuit of righteousness must begin with understanding God and His Righteousness

leading us to the 3rd key part of Paul’s thesis

We obtain the righteousness of God through a revelation

Paul is saying that the righteousness of God reveals itself to us in the message of the Gospel

we don’t “discover” righteousness, it is revealed to us through God and His Word

Paul then proceeds to quote Habakkuk 2:4 ““Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”

the prophet here is saying the on who takes pride in himself does not possess a right heart

or in other words: a person may think himself a good person or worthy of Heaven, but if he does: he is self-deceived. For a righteous man lives by faith

Now, you would think that since Paul just laid down what he wants to discuss that he would jump right in, but he doesn't. Rather, he refutes some misconceptions men hold for how to be righteous

before he can explain how we can become righteous, he must explain how we can NOT become righteous

He breaks it down into 4 misconceptions

Paganism

Moralism

Nomianism

Judaism

He breaks these misconceptions from Romans 1:18 - 3:21 and you will notice that Paul picks up in 3:22-23 where he left off in 1:17

As we study these four misconception you should notice that they all share one commonality: they all hold a false understanding of the standard to enter heaven.. that is, of how righteous we must be to enter Heaven

though you and I may not believe we are good enough as of yet, we do believe we can get there

this self-deception begins with a wrong definition of the word: Righteous (or we could just say “good”)

Let me ask you: Are you a good person?

before you answer lets look at how Jesus defines the term in Luke 18:18-19

Luke 18:18–19 ESV

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

As the man asks the question, Jesus doesn’t even answer it right away. Instead He focuses on the mans warped, self-serving sense of the word “good”

mankind has a knack of acknowledging that God is perfect and we are not, but we also imagine ourselves to be good enough to get into heaven even in our imperfect state

The man calls Jesus ‘good’ in an attempt to flatter Him, but in doing so exposes his lack of thought concerning its meaning

But Jesus answers and says no one is good but God alone

Goodness is not a scale, it’s a dot and the dot is God

it’s either you are God and good, or you are not

Paul alludes to this in the next section Romans 1:18-20

Romans 1:18–20 ESV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Paul explains that we are all considered unrighteous and ungodly

to be ‘ungodly’ is to be unlike God in every possible way

we aren’t just a little unlike him, so that there is only a small little gap to jump across to enter heaven — like the ruler in Luke 18 supposed

In reality, we are unlike God by out nature

Moreover, we are considered unrighteous

Jesus said No One is good but God alone

We are 100% bad

Yet, knowing this, we still believe we don’t deserve God’s wrath

in order to arrive to this thinking, we suppress the truth which is further unrighteousness as Paul says

we suppress the truth telling ourselves that we are good enough and that God cares little about our sin, or even further believe that there is no God to care at all

But Paul says that God’s wrath will be revealed upon these people

God will hold the world accountable for it’s ungodliness for He can do nothing less, and thus being truly Just

Paul says that these people won’t have the ability to say “We didn’t know” because in v19 he states “...since what may be know about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.”

Now it is VITAL to understand what Paul IS saying here and what he ISN'T saying

Paul IS saying that God has placed inside every person both the capacity and opportunity to know of God

Paul is NOT suggesting that this instinctive knowledge of God is sufficient to bring us to a saving faith in Jesus Christ

the phrase “that which is know” at the beginning of v19 uses a verbal form of the word “knowledgeable”

Paul is saying the knowable things of God are evident

Not everything about God or Christ or the Gospel has been placed on our hearts (no one is saved merely from the knowledge of God planted in our hearts)

Paul also says that they also suppress the truth of God evident in Creation by perpetuating the lie that the Creation itself is God

this is the same lie Satan told in the Garden: that creation can replace the creator

you can understand a lot about God by examining what has been made

furthermore, we can see in the Creation a world specially designed for the needs of man (from the atmosphere, the food supply, the cycles of nature, the dominion man has over all creatures, etc.)

clearly, God has provided good things for us, which suggest the Creator has taken a personal interest in mankind’s needs

and thus we can know He is a God of Mercy and Love

We can also see that the world is wearing out and that men die

the creation is beautiful, but it is not perfect

These are all invisible attributes of God, yet they are clearly visible to us in the plan of Creation

we see His eternal power and divine nature in these things, and so we cannot live as if there is no God over His Creation

Psalms tells it this way in Ps. 19:1-5

Psalm 19:1–5 ESV

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

the heavens testify to God’s glory

moreover, it should lead us away from assuming too much about our own power or the power of the created world, because without a Creator there is no us or created world

Next week we will cover Paul's defense against Paganism and his defense against Moralism (Romans 1:18 - 2:11)