Introduction to Romans

Welcome to Romans Class!

Welcome to Summer School! This is not remedial, this is transformational! We will be going into the book of Romans – let’s allow the Holy Spirit to shine a light on the Word.

History has shown us that studying the book of Romans can change a person’s life:

Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD)

Impact: Augustine was living a morally chaotic life and struggling with deep questions about sin and grace. While in a garden, he heard a child’s voice say, “Take and read.” He picked up a Bible and read Romans 13:13–14, which urged him to put aside darkness and clothe himself with Christ.

Romans 13:13–14 (NIV) Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Result: That moment marked his conversion. Augustine went on to become one of the most influential theologians in Christian history.

Martin Luther (1483–1546)

Impact: As a monk, Luther wrestled with guilt and the concept of God’s righteousness. Reading Romans 1:17 transformed his understanding of salvation.

Romans 1:17 (NIV) For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Result: Luther's revelation about justification by faith sparked the Protestant Reformation, forever altering the course of Christianity.

John Wesley (1703–1791)

Impact: Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was deeply religious but lacked assurance of salvation. In 1738, he attended a meeting on Aldersgate Street where someone read Martin Luther’s Preface to Romans.

Result: Wesley felt his “heart strangely warmed” and finally understood that salvation is by faith. That moment ignited his evangelistic zeal and helped birth the Methodist movement.

Watchman Nee (1903–1972)

Impact: Nee, a Chinese church leader, was deeply shaped by Romans, particularly chapters 6–8, in understanding the Christian's identification with Christ's death and resurrection.

- Chapter 6 –Dead to sin, alive in Christ/Slaves to Righteousness

- Chapter 7 – Released from the Law, Bound to Christ/The Law and Sin

- Chapter 8 – Life through the Spirit/Present Suffering and Future Glory/More than Conquerors

Result: His teachings influenced the House Church Movement in China and are foundational in his book The Normal Christian Life, which draws heavily on Romans.

Meet the Author

Saul of Tarsus, as he had been known, despised Jesus of Nazareth, believing Him to be an impostor. This spurred him to pursue and persecute Jesus’ followers. However, an abrupt encounter with the risen Christ near Damascus jolted him to the core and revolutionized his life. This zealot became a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ who preached good news, planted churches, wrote letters, encouraged believers, and suffered greatly for the Savior.

Saul deserved punishment, yet God gave grace. Here is a picture of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. He makes us right in His sight and declares us “not guilty” when we put our trust in His Son, who took the punishment of our sins upon himself. The gospel “is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Paul did not invent this message. “My message,” he writes, “came by a direct revelation from Jesus Christ himself. No one else taught me” (Galatians 1:12, NLT).[1]

Meet the Romans

The origin of the Roman church is uncertain. Tradition says Peter founded it. But there is no evidence to support this view. Scholars believe Peter probably first visited Rome in AD 60—after Paul’s arrival. The faith of the Romans was “being reported all over the world” (1:8) long before Peter and Paul made their visits.

A second view reasons that Christians, like other citizens, visited Rome. Coming from such places as Jerusalem, Antioch, Thessalonica, Philippi, Corinth, and Ephesus they shared their faith with Roman acquaintances. Supporters of this view point to almost thirty friends, associates, and converts of Paul from across the empire who were living in Rome at the time he wrote (Romans 16). Undoubtedly these believers contributed to the growth of the church. However, we have no evidence to uphold this view.

The most likely view of the origin of the early church goes back to those present in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. Among those gathered on the Day of Pentecost were “visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism)” (Acts 2:10–11). According to this view, the first believers were converted through Peter’s preaching, filled with the Spirit, and then took the good news back to Rome. However, Luke does not specifically identify the converts by city or nation. For this reason, we say that Romans were most likely among the new converts.[2]

Introduction of Vocabulary

Gospel

We must not lose the significance of this word gospel. It is good news! It has power to impart life to the desperate and dying, deliverance to the condemned, and hope and healing to the hurting! Thus, Paul was “eager to preach the gospel” (Romans 1:15) in Rome.[3]

Justification

Justification is a legal term used in a court of law. Paul uses it to explain how God makes sinful people acceptable to Him. In the original language, it is closely related to righteousness. “The Greek word for ‘justification’ (dikaiosyne) is built on the word for ‘right’ or ‘righteousness’ (dikaios)” (Boice 1991, 1:381).

“Justified freely by his grace” (Romans 3:24) describes what God does for all who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior (3:22). The word justify means “to pronounce, accept, and treat as just, i.e., as on the one hand, not penally liable, and on the other, entitled to all the privileges due to those who have kept the law” (Harrison 1987, 304).[4]

Righteousness

In Romans 1:17, Paul declares, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed.” Righteousness (Greek, dikaiosyne) can refer either to “God’s righteousness” or “the righteousness God gives to those who believe” (Comfort 1994, 22). Usually, we speak of God’s righteousness in relation to His character or activity. But here it refers to a righteousness God imparts to those who put their trust in Christ as Savior. That is, we are credited as righteous, or declared to be “in the right” in God’s sight.[5]

Faith

Paul speaks in Romans 1:17 of “a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.” He tells the Roman believers, and us, that we receive this righteousness from God by faith. As Paul develops his teaching, he explains more fully the concept of God’s crediting us with righteousness as we put our trust in Christ’s sacrificial death on our behalf. When he says, “by faith from first to last,” he uses the word faith in two ways: (1) as the crisis act of faith that brings us into a right relationship with God—right standing—and (2) as the continuing active faith that reveals God’s righteousness in a person’s daily life—right living.

Then Paul supports his teaching by saying, “As it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’ ” (Romans 1:17). Paul includes the phrase “As it is written” because he wants the Romans to understand that he is not introducing a new concept. Rather, his teaching is founded on the unchangeable Word of God. Thus he quotes the prophet Habakkuk (2:4) to show that faith was clearly taught in the Hebrew Scriptures. (See also Hebrews 10:38.)

Bible scholars view Habakkuk’s statement in two ways:

1.             Some insist that it is better translated: “But the righteous by faith will live.” They attach the words by faith to the words the righteous instead of will live to underscore how believers are justified. Because we are justified by faith, we will live; that is, God gives us eternal life because we trust Him.

2.             Others follow the NIV: “The righteous will live by faith.” Here the emphasis is on how the righteous live—by faith. Those who favor this view argue that the context of Galatians 3:11 (where Paul quotes this same passage) clearly favors “will live by faith.” The Galatians passage contrasts observing the law with living by faith.

Galatians 3:11 (NIV) Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”

Rather than considering these as rival views, it seems wiser to see them as two aspects of our salvation. First, we enter into a right relationship with God by faith; then, we continue to walk with Him by faith.[6]

What Can We Expect?

Spiritual Strengthening

11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—

The Necessity of the Gospel

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

The book falls into thirds: Chapters 1–8 speak of God’s plan of salvation; Chapters 9–11 show how both Jews and Gentiles fit into that plan; and finally, Chapters 12–16 develop the ways in which the righteous life should be expressed in daily life.

Viewed in another way, it might be said that the theology of Romans establishes these cardinal truths:

1. That God seeks after humans, not humans after God

2. That the righteousness that counts with God is the righteousness of Christ, not human good works

3. That right-standing with God is predicated on what He has done in Christ, not the efforts of men and women to find favor with God

4. That faith alone, not commendable human works, opens the gates of heaven

5. That satisfying God’s justice is the work of Jesus alone, and not in any way the efforts of men and women

And finally,

6. That salvation is totally God’s doing, and not humankind’s.

Yet, mysteriously and almost contradictorily, response remains the choice and prerogative of men and women. A human’s part in salvation is logically negligible, but biblically and practically God has chosen to offer humans the option of choice.

At this point, one is both a Calvinist (salvation is totally God’s doing) and an Arminian (salvation remains for humans a choice). Good theology here does not appeal to logic so much as to faith and obedience. Again, in some mysterious and even illogical way God has reserved for humanity the freedom of choice, even though He is sovereign Lord and sole provider of salvation.[7]

Next Week…Humanity, We’ve Got a Problem…Sin.

[1]William F. Lasley and Richard Dresselhaus, Romans: Justification by Faith: An Independent-Study Textbook, Third Edition (Springfield, MO: Global University, 2010), 10.

[2]William F. Lasley and Richard Dresselhaus, Romans: Justification by Faith: An Independent-Study Textbook, Third Edition (Springfield, MO: Global University, 2010), 24.

[3]William F. Lasley and Richard Dresselhaus, Romans: Justification by Faith: An Independent-Study Textbook, Third Edition (Springfield, MO: Global University, 2010), 29.

[4]William F. Lasley and Richard Dresselhaus, Romans: Justification by Faith: An Independent-Study Textbook, Third Edition (Springfield, MO: Global University, 2010), 74.

[5]William F. Lasley and Richard Dresselhaus, Romans: Justification by Faith: An Independent-Study Textbook, Third Edition (Springfield, MO: Global University, 2010), 30.

[6]William F. Lasley and Richard Dresselhaus, Romans: Justification by Faith: An Independent-Study Textbook, Third Edition (Springfield, MO: Global University, 2010), 31.

[7]William F. Lasley and Richard Dresselhaus, Romans: Justification by Faith: An Independent-Study Textbook, Third Edition (Springfield, MO: Global University, 2010), 33–34.