A Life Changing Letter
Introduction to Romans
Today, we’re going to begin a study on what I consider to be one of the greatest letters ever written. Today, we begin a study of the book of Romans. It’s hard to overestimate the influence of this letter. It is probably the most powerful document ever written
Romans is the basic handbook for Christianity. It has influenced hundreds, thousands, millions of people. Augustine, who has had a large influence on the church since the 5th century, was converted after reading just a few verses of the 13th chapter of Romans. The phrase “the righteous shall live by faith” in the 16th verse of the very first chapter of Romans had such a great effect on Martin Luther that it led to the Reformation, the greatest awakening our world has seen since the days of the apostles. John Bunyan, while studying Romans in prison, was so taken by this book, that he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress in the 1600s. On May 24, 1738, a discouraged missionary went, in his words, “very unwillingly” to a religious meeting in London. This missionary later wrote in his journal, “About a quarter to nine, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, in Christ alone, for salvation. And an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even, mine, and saved me from the law of sing and death.” That missionary was John Wesley. The message he heard that night was the preface to Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans. The result of that evening and his conversion was the beginning of Methodism and the start of the great Wesleyan Revival that swept England and transformed that country. Throughout history, God has used the book of Romans to influence people’s lives in ways you cannot imagine. And God is still using this book today, to transform people’s lives, just like it transformed people like Augustine, Martin Luther, John Bunyan and John Wesley.
Imagine! You and I can read and study the very same inspired letter that brought life and power to men like Martin Luther and John Wesley! And the very same Holy Spirit who taught them can teach us! You and I can experience revival in our lives, in our homes, in our church, in our community, if we allow the message of this letter to grip us as it has gripped men and women of faith who have gone before us.
I want us to pause right here at the very beginning and ask God to give us insight as we look into His Word to us. Let’s pray...
Heavenly Father, I feel so inadequate as we look at this book of the Bible.
I know that you have so much to say to us as we study your Word.
I pray that as we study Romans that You would change our lives.
Father, I pray that this would be a life changing letter. I pray that we would be better able to understand Your plan for our lives though it.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
When you study a book, you always want to ask questions. Questions like:
• Who wrote it?
• Where was it written from?
• To whom was it written?
• When was it written?
• Why was it written?
• What’s the main message?
This morning, I want to give you an introduction to this book and a basic overview of the book. We can’t understand this book without understanding some of these basic things.
1. Who wrote it?
When you get a letter, what’s the first thing you look for?
Who’s it from, right?
You want to find out who the letter’s from.
How you read the letter usually is affected by knowing who it’s from.
The Greeks always started out up front telling you who it’s from and who it’s to. Kind of like a memo. We know it was written from Paul (1:1) “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God”
Paul was the human author, but God is the real Author.
Actually it wasn’t written by Paul. It was authored by Paul, but the actual handwriting wasn’t done by Paul. The letter was actually written down by someone else. Look at Romans 16:22 "I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord."
Tertius wrote the book of Romans. He was Paul’s secretary. Paul didn’t write the letter down personally. He dictated it. Tertius wrote it.
Who is Paul anyway? Paul is probably the most influential man in history since Jesus Christ. There are over a billion Christians today in the world because Paul was the one who, under the direction of the Holy Spirit took the gospel all across the Roman empire and started churches all around the Mediterranean.
He was the most influential man in history since Jesus Christ.
He is a product of 3 different cultures:
1) Religiously, or by race and religion, he was a Hebrew.
Paul gives a testimony in Philippians 3:4-6: "...though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless." As much as you can say about a Jew, Paul says he was the ultimate Jew. A Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee—the strictest religious sect. They were so strict that if their clothes touched anyone else who was not a Pharisee, especially a Gentile, they considered themselves unclean. They were set apart. They were the most rigid legalistic group of Jews possible. Paul was a devout Hebrew Jew.
He was the most unlikely person to be a Christian.
Yet in Acts 9, he was on the road to Damascus, getting ready to go persecute the Christians, and God spoke to him in a blinding light.
The Lord said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
Saul, who’s name was later changed to Paul, said, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" At that point Paul was converted.
I think this is really encouraging. Do you know anybody that when you share the gospel with them they get irritated at you or violent and uptight? If that’s so, that’s good news. Many times reacting like that simply means God has them under conviction. Often that means they are really a lot more close to becoming a Christian than those who are apathetic.
If a person gets mad at you for sharing the Gospel, it means they care.
2) Paul, by culture, was Greek. He was born and raised in Tarsus.
Tarsus is a seaport on the coast of Turkey. What do we know about this city of Tarsus? Tarsus was a great university center. It had one of the greatest libraries of the world. Paul was a highly educated man. He spoke Greek fluently. Greek was the universal language at that time. Even though it was the Roman empire, not everybody spoke Latin. Most people spoke Greek, regardless of what country you were in. Since Paul spoke Greek fluently that meant he could travel internationally and speak in several different countries.
3) Politically, Paul was a Roman citizen. This is important to understand because being a Roman citizen gave you a pass to the empire that, if you were not a citizen, you didn’t have those privileges. Only about 1 in5 people in the Roman empire were actually citizens of the empire. Paul was a Roman citizen.
You could get a Roman citizenship by birth, or if you were wealthy enough, you could buy a Roman citizenship. Acts 16:35 Paul and Silas had been put in prison. The prison guards did not know they were Roman citizens. "When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailor with the order: `Release those men’. The jailor told Paul, `The magistrates ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.’ But Paul said to the officers: `They beat us publicly without a trial, [which was against the law if you were a Roman citizen. They were in big trouble!] even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out."
Picture the scene: Paul and Silas had just been thrown into prison, thinking they were just poor Jews, having no status in the Roman empire.
Then Paul pulls his ace from his sleeve and says (paraphrased):
"By the way, guys, we’re Roman citizens! If you want us to leave, you go get the mayor to come down here and personally let us leave because they beat us without a trial."
v. 38 "The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens they were alarmed."
They were scared to death! Paul was a Roman citizen which came in real handy as he traveled around the Mediterranean Roman empire because it gave him access. Kind of like a pass.
v. 39: “They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city."
The point I want to make here: Paul had Hebrew background, Greek background, and Roman background. As a result he was perfectly equipped to be an international minister to the different countries around the Roman empire.
God often prepares us and equips us for the ministry He’s going to give us.
2. Where was it written from?
Romans 16:23 "Gaius whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings."
This tells us where the letter was written from. Gaius was a Christian business man who lived in Corinth, Greece. So the letter was written from Corinth, Greece by Paul (actually by Tertius, dictated by Paul).
3. To whom was it written?
Romans 1:7:"To all in Rome, who are loved by God and called to be saints..." What does it mean to be a saint? To be a saint simply means to be a Christian. In the New Testament, people were rarely called Christians. The most common term for Christian, in the Bible, is saints. The Bible says if you’re a Christian, you’re a saint. So the Bible says Paul wrote this letter to the Christians who were in Rome.
Notice he doesn’t address it to the “Church at Rome” (v. 7). Rather than one large church in Rome, more than likely there were at least 5 small house churches. We get this from the households that are mentioned in chapter 16: 5, 10, 11, 14, 15. The Christians at Rome included both Jews and Gentiles, but were primarily Gentiles
Paul hadn’t been to Rome yet. It’s different than other letters he wrote.
In other letters, he started the church. But here he didn’t know anybody -- actually a few. In chapter 16 he lists them. But how did the church in Rome get started? Most likely there were some converts of Paul from other cities who went to Rome. When they got there they started some home Bible studies and began to grow and soon there was a church growing there. Paul writes to them.
Paul is writing to the Christians at Rome. He had this overwhelming desire to go to Rome. Look at 1:11 & 1:13...
"I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong." v. 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."
He said, "I’ve been planning, dreaming, hoping -- my greatest dream is to go to Rome." Rome was the greatest city of the greatest empire of the world. It was the strategic center of civilization. He had started churches in Corinth, Thessolonica, all over Greece and Turkey and the Mediterranean, but he had never made it to Rome. Look at v. 15:
"This is why I’m so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome." He had a strategy. He wanted to go to Rome but he wasn’t able to go and so he wrote this letter.
4. When was it written?
Paul made 3 missionary journeys around the Mediterranean starting churches, each of them taking a few years. He’d go into an area and spend anywhere between 6 months to 2 years starting a church, get it growing, and then move on to a new area. Paul, on his 3rd journey, had made it all the way to Greece. He had started in Jerusalem, and comes all the way down to Corinth, Greece. Acts 20:1-3 gives us some background as to what was happening with Paul here. Look at v. 1: "When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia." Macedonia is the old word for Greece. Philip of Macedon was the founder of Greece. His son was Alexander the Great. So, Macedonia is named after the father of Alexander the Great.
Look at vv. 2-3: "He traveled through that area speaking many words of encouragement to the people and finally arrive in Greece where he stayed three months." Where did he stay? In Corinth. In chapter 16 where we read about Gaius. Gaius was a wealthy business man in Corinth. Paul spent three months staying in the home of this business man named Gaius in Corinth. While he was there he wrote the book of Romans.
Now, some of you may not realize the letters of the New Testament are not in order chronologically. Paul wrote 13 different letters to 13 different people and churches. The first letter he wrote was probably Galatians (48 A.D.) Then 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians he wrote in A.D. 50. Then he wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians probably in 55-56 A.D. When he gets around to writing to the church in Rome, it’s around 57 A.D. near the end of his 3rd missionary journey during his 3 month stay in Greece.
5. Why was it written?
Paul had at least 3 reasons for writing the letter:
1) There was a personal reason. (1:11-13,15).
The purpose was to introduce himself to the Romans. He was announcing his visit. He intended to come. Simply as a courtesy statement he says, I want you to know that I’m coming. Look at v. 11:
"I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith... (v. 15) That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome." Don’t you appreciate it when people write ahead or call ahead and let you know they’re coming? That’s the personal reason he gave for writing this book.
2) There was an educational reason: To review and clarify the meaning and basis of Christian living. He wants to clarify the meaning of salvation. He wants to clarify and review the gospel message. Look at 15:15 "I have written to you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me."
Romans has been called the Christian’s Constitution. How many of you are aware that we have a Constitution Revision Committee? We are working hard at revising our church’s Bylaws and Constitution. Let me tell you, it’s hard work! Please pray for those of us on this committee. We need it!
It’s hard to lay out clearly and precisely a representation and guide as to what we are about as a church and how we conduct ourselves. In Romans, Paul is writing the constitution of the Christian life. If you want an exact presentation of the key truths of the Christian faith, there’s no better book than the book of Romans.
3) There was a financial reason.
This is a fund raising letter in one sense. Paul wrote Romans to get support for his trip to Spain. Look at 15:22-24: "This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. 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, 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."
He’s getting financial help from the Romans to go even farther to Spain where he wanted to spread the gospel.
Did Paul ever make it to Spain? Probably not. There’s a chance he did.
We do know that he was killed in Rome. How did the letter get there? Look at 16:1 2:
"I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me."
Evidently Phoebe was a wealthy widow that had some kind of personal business in Rome. So as she was coming, she handed this letter to the church in Rome.
6. What’s the main message?
The main message that Paul is making is that God declares us righteous by faith alone and not by works of any kind. The main message is the gospel. This main message is found in Romans is 1:16-17: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, and then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: `The righteous will live by faith.’"
God gives His righteousness to the person who believes in faith.
The gospel is the saving power of God.
The gospel, the good news, has the power to change lives!
And it’s the power of the Gospel that we must not be ashamed of!
The word power is the word from which we get our word dynamite.
Paul preaches the gospel throughout this letter. What is the gospel?
Paul gives a definition of the gospel in another letter, in
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 “ Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”
Speaking of this gospel, notice Paul writes in the last part of Romans 1:16 that, “...it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”
Paul uses the word “salvation” to mean a deliverance from the future wrath of God and this deliverance is only to those who believe.
What does it mean to “believe”? To understand what is meant by the word “believe” we’ve got to look at the relationship between the word “faith” and the word “believe.” We believe a message, the message of the gospel. “Faith” is the response to that message.
Notice in v. 17 that Paul states that in the gospel “..a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last...”
It’s totally by faith. It’s from “faith to faith”.
Now, since faith is a response to a message, we can logically ask next, “What kind of a response is faith?” From a study of Romans, it becomes very clear that faith is a response of obedience to the gospel (1:5; 10:16; 16:19, 26).
So, we can ask further, “What is meant by obedience, then?”
Obedience is laying aside any other way of salvation other than the gospel!
We are justified not by works of any kind, but by faith alone!
This is the heart of the message of the gospel and the main message and the main argument of Romans!
Obedience is the laying aside of our works, and trusting totally in God’s grace which is shown to us in Christ’s death and resurrection (the gospel)!
To say it in one sentence, the main message of Romans is this:
“The revelation of God’s righteousness to sinners and the imparting of that righteousness to those sinners who exercise faith in Jesus Christ”
(REPEAT and expand)
Key words in Romans:
The key words in any book are often the key that unlocks the book.
There are some words in 1:17 that will be repeated over and over in Romans
"God" is used 153 times.
"Law" is used 72 times.
"Christ" is used 65 times.
“Gospel” is used 60 times.
"Sin" is used 48 times.
"Faith" is used 40 times.
"Righteousness" is used 34 times.
Overview
An overview -- a bird’s eye view -- of the book of Romans:
There are 5 key divisions outside of the introduction (1:1-17) and then at the end of the book a conclusion (Romans 15:13-16:27). The main body of the book can be divided into 5 main divisions:
Romans 1:1-17 Introduction
Romans 1:18-3:20 SIN
He starts with the bad news: Why do we need to be saved?
Romans 3:21-5:21 SALVATION
The good news: How are you saved? He talks about how you become a believer, how you become a child of God.
Romans 6:1-8:39 SANCTIFICATION
How do I live the Christians life? He talks about the new life of a believer and what happens after I’m saved. Faith in Christ doesn’t end our daily struggle with sin. These struggles, can, however, be won by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 9:1-11:36 SOVEREIGNTY
In this parenthesis, Paul talks about the sovereignty of God. He talks about why God saves us. In particular, we will look at the explanation of the relationship between the nation of Israel and the church.
Romans 12:1-15:13 SERVICE
This is the very practical part of Romans. It deals with what we’re saved to do, our conduct and our character and how we are to serve God.
Romans 15:14-16:27 Conclusion
Just as Paul’s other books are usually divided into a doctrinal section and a practical section, the same is true for the book of Romans.
Part of Romans is very doctrinal. It deals with basic Bible truths and teachings.
Part of Romans it is very practical. It deals with how we need to grow in the Christian life. It lists all kinds of subjects. Subjects like: grace, sin, love, spiritual gifts, trials, struggles, getting along with each other, government, judging each other, sovereignty of God, judgment, the Holy Spirit, baptism, death, the gospel, heaven, repentance, growth.
All of these are subjects that Paul deals with in Romans.
Concluding Application:
We’ve taken a very brief overview of this book. Hopefully you’ve seen how comprehensive God’s plan for mankind really is. It’s no wonder that this book has been one of the most influential documents in human history! What can we conclude from what we’ve looked at this morning?
What can we take with us this morning as we leave this place?
Well, it kind of depends on how you view this letter to the Romans.
If you view this book as only a letter to the Romans, you will miss its message to you.
If you look at this book from that viewpoint, Romans is merely a historical artifact with no relevance for you today.
If that’s your view, well, frankly, you’ll probably become very bored as we study this book.
Maybe some of you are all excited to study this book. I hope you are.
But I hope you are excited not because you take the view that Romans merely has teaches some extremely important doctrinal truths. It does.
And you should take the time to learn it.
But if you approach this book as some sort of theological treatise and ignore its many applications, you’ll miss a very important part of its message—changed lives! As one of my seminary professors used to say in our Bible study methods class: “Observation, with interpretation, without application is—Abortion!”
The best approach you can have as we study this book is to view this as a personal letter to you. But, let me warn you! Beware! If you study Romans from this perspective, you will never be the same. It will be impossible for you to remain neutral to its message. And that’s just how God planned it!
The great preacher Donald Barnhouse spent many years preaching through the book of Romans. He said that God has always used this book to renew and refresh and revitalize the church. My prayer is that God will use the book of Romans in my life, in our church just as He’s used it time after time.
And if you find yourself stuck in a rut, having the blahs, feeling frustrated, hurting... my hope and prayer is that God will use this book in our lives to make us what He wants us to be.
