Romans 1-2

What is Rome

Rome itself was a bustling metropolis of over 1 million people, featuring grand architecture like aqueducts, forums, and baths. Culturally, it saw advancements in literature (e.g., works by Seneca and Pliny the Elder), engineering, and law, while early Christianity emerged amid religious diversity and occasional persecutions. Economically, trade flourished via roads and seas, but social inequalities persisted with slavery widespread.

Timeline of Romans

romans timeline:

AD 19: Tiberius expels Jews from Rome some 4000

Ca. AD 30-33: Ministry of Jesus

Ca. AD 34-35: Conversion of Paul

AD 49: Claudius expels Jews from Rome (Acts 18)

AD 54: Death of Claudius

Ca: AD 56-57 Paul writes Romans

“James C. Walters in Ethnic Issues in Paul’s Letter to the Romans: Changing Self-Definitions in Earliest Roman Christianity”

In the first century they hadn’t really figured out that Judaism and Christianity were different. Certainly in Rome Cluadius expelled the Jewish people because they were evangelizing a message that was not sponsored by rome.

The earliest house churches in Rome would have been primarily Jewish and would have culturally felt Jewish, but in A.D. 49 the Roman Emperor Claudius kicked the Jews out of Rome.[1] Jewish Christians, of course, would have been expelled along with the rest of the Jews.[2] During the five years between Claudius’s edict (A.D. 49) and his death (A.D. 54) when the edict lapsed and Jews started to return, the composition and self-understanding of the house churches in Rome would have shifted considerably. Paul’s letter to the Romans would have arrived in Rome somewhere around A.D. 57, during the period when Jews were still trickling back into Rome. If you can fix in your mind that the expulsion of Jews from Rome had a tremendous impact on the churches in that city, you will understand the message of Romans oh-so-much better!

1. Persons expelled from Rome

Jewish christians are gone so primary leaders would be gentile.

2. Jewish and Christian Self-Definition

When the Jewish people came back to rome they would have had to choose whether they wanted to keep identifying as Jewish people or as Christians. Without the Jewish influence and input Christianity started to look much more like a gentile thing.

3. The Unity of Christianity in Rome

Originally the gentiles would have to fall in line to how the Jewish people believe this faith was supposed to be lived out

Upon return from exile the Jews were now coming into the more gentile Christianity and having to find their place so the roles had reversed.

Paul himself

We’ll watch a video here in a little bit talking about who Paul was in the first century

We know him as the apostle Paul he wrote many letters in the New Testament. He was known as the apostle to the gentiles. In a lot of his function he is paralleled to the prophets in the Old Testament in how he worked and what he did.

Paul was born “Saul of Tarsus” to a likely well of family decendent from the tribe of Benjamin. He had Roman citizenship which came with certain benefits like you’re not allowed to be degraded publicly and the right to appeal from lower jurisdictions in court.

Saul as a pharisee would violently persecute Christians. It’s fascinating and miraculous that Saul could ever come to write a letter like romans talking about grace and righteousness and faithfulness because it was exactly his intense zeal for the law and the traditions of Israel that brought him to violently persecute Christians

But of course in the book of Acts God would take Saul’s sight. Saul was blind in a less literal way before his sight was taken and it was not until he could see truth that Jesus would give him his vision back and claim him as Paul.

Paul wrote this letter sometime around 55 AD.

In keeping with the theme of “Pave the Way,” I want us to look at the “Romans Road” from two perspectives so we can get a fuller idea of the two main themes in

Romans: Righteousness

Romans: Obedience of Faithfulness.

Righteousness and Faithfulness are distinct here. Both are necessary for the Roman’s road or the systematic theology laid out to us in Romans, but they are distinct in their function. You can not have one of these without the other.

Righteousness is the foundation of our faith. If we keep going with our road imagery Righteousness is the rebar, it’s the level ground, it’s the things you do to make sure once the concrete or whatever it is is poured it doesn’t fall apart.

Faithfulness is what get’s poured out to make the road. this is what you walk on, what you interact with, what you look at.

Righteousness you can say “right with God” The righteous ones are “right with God” now I have good news and bad news for you on righteousness. We all fall short. If I’m the foundation for a road that roads got cracks. It’s falling apart, except for the righteousness we step into with Jesus. Roman’s will paint righteousness as something we step into in Christ rather than something we are or have. It’s almost like a loaner.

This righteousness has been laid for us for 2000 years and has set up a straight and narrow path for us to pour faithfulness onto. Our faithfulness follows the foundation laid for us by Christ making us “right with God” only by his mercy.

We hopefully pour out faithfulness everywhere we go all the time. We pour it out at work, at home, and the more we pour out the further along we go on the road to Christ.

[BIBLE PROJECT VIDEO]

In Romans 1:5, Paul makes an interesting statement about the “obedience of faithfulness” in his greeting. I want us to read my translation of the first five verses of Romans 1 together here, because Paul has a lot of “supporting facts” that will come up as we discuss both righteousness and the obedience of faithfulness.

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who was a descendant of David according to his human ancestry, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord 5 through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience of faithfulness for his name’s sake.”

Paul will close his letter to the Romans with that very same phrase. Again, let’s read the final verses of Romans together in context so we can hear it for ourselves.

25 Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience of faithfulness—27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Now many translations have tried to get creative with this phrase “obedience of faithfulness,” but the truth is it’s only two words in the original Greek. The way it’s written in the Greek text implies the two words refer to the same thing. When Paul says, “obedience of faithfulness,” he is really saying that “obedience” is “faithfulness,” and “faithfulness” is “obedience” (e.g., see McKnight p. 32). The other implication of this is that “faith” is not just an intellectual assent to a fact. “Faith” always implies that some action is involved, as we’ll see.

Read Romans 1: 8-17

Because of all the ruckus cause by the jews being pushed out and the gentiles continuing their house churches without much leadership, a some scholars suppos that paul, while recognizing the faith of the christians in Rome, wanted to set up a firmer apostolic foundation. It’s also assumed, that Paul might be setting up a support base for his misson to Spain.

So now Paul will start to frame out the systematic theology of the book of romans.

Romans 1:18-23

Paul is laying into the idea that anyone has an excuse not to believe in God. God’s divine order has a higherarchy and it just so happens that God is on top. And ever since garden of Eden humanity was supposed to be number two, but rather than giving glory to Yahweh who IS the beings created in his image gave glory to lesser created things like pharaoh, birds, cows, and snakes. They gave divinity and glory to things that were beneath them which is an insult to what was made in his image.

Romans is about to go into this, but it breaks God’s heart when we worship things beneath us. This is like when we harm ourselves drinking or lying or getting so engrossed in politics that we no longer see our neighbors as people.

It’s all the same thing. It’s giving these relatively meaningless things the role of God’s divinity in our lives. So what did God do?

Romans 1:24-25

When we put our time, energy, and worth into things that are beneath us we face the consequences of our actions. We reap what we sow. When we worship our own understanding of how the world works and how things should be then God will let us experience all of the things that go along with how we things things should be. And that means consequences. God delivered them over to the desires of their own heart.

and then he describes some of that.

Romans 1:26-32

He even describes what we’re like when we do whatever we want! Gossips, slanderers, arrogant, proud, boastful, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.

And the ends feels like it is important today.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die,—they not only do them, but even applaud, others who practice them.

That’s sad. It breaks my heart, but nobody is without excuse.

And speaking of without excuse Paul turns back on the jewish brothers here!

Romans 2:1-4

The problem with judgment is that our righteousness isn’t ours. It’s not even something that never exists in our actions. We can be righteous for a moment, maybe as we mature we can even be righteous for several moments! But righteousness is a zero sum game. This means that we either are or we arent. and God is. This phrase that God is the great I am it means God transcends. God is a fact. The things of God are fact and unshakably true. God’s righteousness isn’t a moment, it’s a fact. God is. God’s mercy is a fact. God is. He is perfectly consistent and just, but with you and me we’re terribly inconsistent even one moment to the next.

We either are righteous or we aren’t. No matter how many days in a row I do a good job, that day where I’m tired, Chloe’s not happy with me, kids are crazy, and I get cranky and speak just a little sharp, that’s it. Game over. NOT RIGHTEOUS

And if you’re like me then perhaps your least righteous moments are more than being a little bit sharp in a chaotic moment. The level of our mistakes doesn’t matter. It’s that because we make mistakes we are on the unrighteous team. It’s the same team.

Romans 2:5-11

And here he’s gonna say that since the Israelites actually had the rule book that their unrighteous moments are even worse!

Romans 2:12-16

And don’t forget that in Jesus’ kingdom the standard is even higher. Looking at a woman is idolatry. Being angry is murder.

Romans 2:17-24