Sermon Tone Analysis

The Righteousness of God

                                                   Paul, an Apostle of Christ

                                                           (Romans 1:1-7)

Introduction:

            This morning we begin a study in the book of Romans.

The overall title of our series of lessons will be . . .

and the title of our first lesson is . . .

I have taught through the book of Romans once before, but the turnover in this class has been so great we are going to go through the book once more.

One of the reasons we are going to do so is that of all the books of the Bible there are none more important than this magnificent letter of Paul’s to the church at Rome.

We believe, of course, that every word of the Bible is God’s Word, right?

We believe in the verbal inspiration of the Bible, meaning that every word is inspired by God.

And so it is all of the utmost importance.

But to say, for instance, that the little book of Obadiah in the OT is just as important as the books of Genesis, the Gospel of John, or the Epistle to the Romans is to just be speaking nonsense.The church has always considered this marvelous work of Paul’s as being the centerpiece of NT theology.

R.

Kent Hughes wrote in his commentary on Romans that no reasonable person would dispute that the book of Romans is one of the most powerful and influential books ever written.

Hughes went on to write that the epistle of Paul to the Romans has been the written force behind some of the most significant conversions of church history.

St. Augustine, the most brilliant theologian of the early centuries, came to conviction of sin and salvation after reading some verses from the thirteenth chapter.

Martin Luther recovered the doctrine of salvation by faith from his study of Romans 1:17 and went on to lead the Protestant Reformation.

While listening to the reading of Luther’s preface to the book of Romans, John Wesley felt his heart “strangely warmed” in conversion and became the catalyst of the great evangelical revival of the eighteenth century.

John Bunyan was so inspired as he studied the great themes of Romans in the Bedford jail that he wrote the immortal /Pilgrim’s Progress/.

In more recent times, while we may not always agree with his theology, Karl Barth’s arguments from the book of Romans devastated liberal Christianity.

We, of course, use the Roman Road in evangelization, don’t we?

It is a powerful witnessing tool.

And on a personal note, let me add that the book of Romans has powerfully affected my own life as well.

It was through my reading of chapter eight that God impressed upon me the reality, that even though I am a sinner, and even though I have still sinned after my conversion, God will never discard me.

I will always remain His child.

But at one point, shortly after I was saved, I had come to doubt the reality of that salvation.

I was struggling in many areas: I was doubting everything–from the truth of my own conversion all the way up to the truth of the Gospel itself.

I was actually living in misery!

My life, in some ways, was emotionally far worse than before I was saved.

But one night God had mercy on me.

As I was reading chapter eight of Romans for the umpteenth time, God spoke to me, quieting my fears, and began the process of relieving my doubts.

From verse 28 through to verse 39 is Paul’s awesome affirmation of the security of the believer.

Romans 8:31-33 (KJV) \\

31 What shall we then say to these things?

If God/ be/ for us, who/ can be/ against us?

32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?

/It is/ God that justifieth.

That last sentence is significant, isn’t it?

/It is God that justifieth./

Salvation is God’s business, isn’t it?

He has chosen and called a group of people from every tribe and nation to be His own.

And so as we study this letter verse by verse allow the words to soak into the fabric of your soul.

God will speak to you through the medium of His Word, and He will wonderfully speak to you through the power of the book of Romans!

I. Introduction (Romans 1:1-7)

    1.

Paul the Servant and Apostle (v.

1)

            (1 The passage we just read is considered to be Paul’s introduction.

It is somewhat longer than is customary for Paul, but it pretty much follows the pattern for letter writing in NT times.

F.F. Bruce, the great English Bible scholar wrote that of all the New Testament authors, Paul is the one who has stamped his own personality most unmistakably on his writings.

And Paul did write with an unmistakable style, didn’t he?

One of the problems many of us have with writing letters is our inability to express ourselves in written form.

Many of us are simply not able to give others an accurate portrait not only of ourselves and who we are, but we are unable to express complex ideas in our writing either.

We seem to be better equipped to direct conversation than letter writing.

But Paul wore his true feelings on his sleeve, he was able to express those feelings in the words he wrote in his letters, even in a letter that is as doctrinally centered as Romans is.

There is often an unnaturalness about the letters we write, isn’t there?

While Paul wrote with clarity and deep brilliance, but he also wrote in a style that revealed much about him and his relationship with the Christ who saved him, and revealed much about his relationships with other people as well.

And there was a pattern for letter writing in the Greco-Roman world of the first century AD.

That pattern roughly consisted of three main parts: The introduction; the main body of the letter; and the conclusion.

Within the introduction the writer would intoduce himself, identifying himself as the sender of the letter and then identify his intended reader, or readers.

And then the writer would extend his greetings to those readers.

In the introduction he might also express a wish that the intended reader be in good health, following which he may offer a prayer and thanksgiving on behalf of his intended readers.

Following the introduction you would find the main body of the letter, where the author would deal with the matter for which he is writing.

This, of course, could be anything, ranging from the normal, everyday, matters of living to the sublime thoughts of the Apostle Paul in the NT writings.

And nowhere is the thought and theology of Paul more sublime than here in Romans.

In the preface to Romans in one of my Bibles, the editors wrote this about Romans: The Epistle to the Romans should be seen as the God-given key to understanding all Scripture, since it is here Paul brings together all the Bible’s greatest themes–sin, law, judgement, human destiny, faith, works, grace, justification, sanctification, election, the plan of salvation, the Christian hope, the nature and life of the church, the place of Jew and non-Jew in the purposes of God, the philosophy of church and world history, the meaning and message of the OT, the duties of Christian citizenship, and the principles of personal godliness and morality.

From the vantage point given by Romans, the whole landscape of the Bible is open to view, and the relation of the parts to the whole becomes plain.

Therefore, the editors went on to finish, the study of Romans is vitally necessary for the spiritual health and insight of the Christian.

And following the body of all ancient letters, what that letter was written for, of course, would be the conclusion, where the letter writer, as Paul often did, would send greetings to and greetings from people known to both the writer and the reader.

That is the basic pattern that Paul follows in this epistle to the Romans.

So, let’s look back at verse one and see just how Paul introduces himself to his Roman readers.

Look at your Bibles, verse one.

(2 We have some insight in this very first verse as to how the great Apostle views himself, don’t we? Paul says of himself that he is servant.

And that word, as many of us already know, means bondservent, slave.

And it is a well-known fact that how a person views himself will often determine how that person will act.

There was a story about a second-grader somewhere in Tennessee who submitted an essay entitled “My Face” to his teacher.

It read: “My face has two brown eyes.

It has a nose and two cheeks.

And two ears and a mouth.

I like my face.

I’m glad my face is just like it is.

It is not bad, it is not good, but just right.”

That is terrific advice for every person who is dissatisfied with their looks, isn’t it?

Plastic surgery is a booming business in America.

But out of the mouth of babes comes solid advice and a wonderful attitude that will go a long way toward making us content with what God has given us.

Philippians 4:11-13 (KJV) \\

11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am,/ therewith/ to be content.

12 † I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Paul was content in whatever circumstances he found himself in.

He was content because of how he viewed himself, wasn’t he?

            (3 And Paul viewed himself as a slave of the risen Christ, didn’t he?

A slave called to be an apostle of that risen Christ.

It is in that one sentence that Paul captures the essence of his self-perception.

The term Paul used to describe his relationship to Jesus was one that was held in comtempt by the Roman world.

He could have introduced himself as “Paul, an eminent theologian, master of the Old Testament Scriptures, front-line warrior, brilliant of intellect,” but instead he chooses slave.

And this serves two purposes in relating to his readers how Paul thinks of himself.

To the Romans, as I said, this was a lowly, servile term, one that held no honor at all.

But to a believing Jew, not necessarily a proud Pharisee, though, and when applied to one’s relationship to God , it was held in high honor.

Paul has both views in mind.