Bible Studies for Home or Church- Romans
Copyright 2002 by Bob Marcaurelle
The Book of Romans in 13 Weeks Lesson 1
1:1-17
I. Introduction-Paul and the Church at Rome 1:1-17
THE DYNAMITE LETTER
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power to save all who believe.” (1:17)
The Greek word “power” is dunamis, from which we get the word dynamite. What Christ can do for you and me is dynamite.
The two greatest revivals in church history came from this verse and the dynamite gospel of salvation by grace it affirms. In 1517, Martil Luther, a slave to Roman Catholic legalsim, and self effort salvation, saw the light of God’s grace for sinners,saved by fatih, and marched into history as the one who gave birth to Protestant churches. Luther called Romans, “The true masterpiece of the New Testament- the purest gospel.”
The Church of England remained Catholic in its theology, and two hundred years after Luther, in the 1700’s, John Wesley, a Church of England pastor, came to the America to do missionary work. Preaching salvation by works,he had little peace. He wrote in his diary, “I came to America to convert the Indians; but who will convert me?” He was a good, moral, ethical man; but somehow he knew that did not make him right with God.
Discouraged back home in England, he half heartedly went to a little chapel service. The speaker read from Martin Luther’s preface to the Book of Romans and Wesley said, his heart was "strangely warmed". That’s putting it mildly. His conversion to salvation by grace through faith, exploded all over England and the Americas, as the Methodist church took up the torch for the gospel.
Augustine, who lived in the 300’s AD was the opposite of Wesley. He lived a horrible, sinful lifestyle of alcohol, extravagance and sexual pleasure.. One day in a garden he read one verse from Romans and became a Christian. He is perhaps the greatest Christian writer before the Reformation (1500’s). His writings, more than those of anyone else influenced John Calvin, the founder of the Presbyterian Church.
A. A DYNAMITE LETTER TO READ
I could fill ten sermons with quotes from the finest men in church history about the excellence of this letter. They say “Romans is:
Martin Luther- “The chief part of the NT, the perfect Gospel.” John Calvin- “A sure road opened to the understanding of the whole of Scripture.”
Bruce Metzer- "The constitution of universal Christianity.”
Herschel Hobbs- “The greatest letter of all time.”
Matthew Henry- "The Psalms of David and the Letters of Paul are stars; but Romans is the largest and fullest of all.”
F. W. Farrar- The most influential of all compositions ever written by the human pen.”
Deissman- “Fire, holy fire, glows between its lines.”
B. A DYNAMITE CHURCH TO REPRODUCE (1:5, 8, 16:1-6)
1. Its Setting- AD 58 (Acts 18-20)
Paul’s (v1) missionary journeys between AD 45 and 58 are found in Chapters 13-20 of Acts. In his letter to the Christians at Rome, he mentioned he was going to Jerusalem to take an offering he had collected for needy Christians there (Rom. 15:25-26). He left Corinth for Rome around AD 58 (Acts 19-20. A good guess, then, for the date of Romans is AD 57 or 58. T
2. Its Spiritual Purpose
Most of the NT letters, including Paul’s, were written to solve some problems, or meet some challenges in the churches. But Romans is the opposite.
1)It was Evangelistic- To Share the Christian Gospel
We see in this Gospel tract-
A CENTRAL LOCATION
Rome was the geographical and political capitol and center of the Roman world. It sat half way between Jerusalem in the East and England in the West, about the same distance as Dallas, Texas is between Tampa, Florida (Jerusalem) and Seattle Washington (England). “All roads lead to Rome” was a common saying.
A CORRUPT WORLD
It was also rotten to the core. The elite, led by the Emperors, practiced every kind of sexual immorality possible; and amused themselves watching gladiators fight wild animals and each other. Two out of every three people were slaves at the mercy of their masters who could torture or kill them at will.
Here, at the center of the civilized world, Paul wanted to leave a written statement of the Christian faith. Romans is an orderly summation of Christian belief (Ch. 1-11) and behavior (Ch 12-End) is. Calvin says if Romans was the only Book we had, we would know something about every essential belief in the Christian faith.
APPLICATION- The Church today has gone from go and tell the gospel (Matt. 28:18-12; Mk. 5:18-20) to come and hear the gospel.
A CONCERNED TEACHER (Acts 20)
Behind this desire may have been a fear. Paul’s life was constantly in danger, and when he left for Jerusalem, he told his fellow Pastors that suffering and imprisonment waited for him and that he would never see their face again ().
Paul, always ready to sacrifice his life for the Lord (Acts 20:24); may have feared that he would never make it to Rome. So it could well be that he wanted to leave his legacy, at statement about Christianity, in the pagan center of the world.
2)Missionsry - To Support Christian Missions (15:28)
Romans could well have a missionary purpose. Paul lived as though every day could be his last and as though he might live a hundred years. Facing death; he was making plans to live. And those plans, when he wrote Romans, were all about Spain, the Western border of the Empire (Like Southern California, from New Orleans, in distance).
He wrote the Romans in 15:28 that he hoped to stop there on the way to Spain. Why Spain? Because lost people were there. It is said that Paul never saw a mountain range; a stretch of desert; an ocean or a river; that he didn’t want to cross to tell those who had never heard of Jesus. And it just might be that Paul wanted the Roman churches to share in this; to be his base of operations; to be his financial and prayer supporters; to be his home church; like Antioch was years before (Acts 13) in the East.
ILLUSTRATION / APPLICATION When Joseph Parker pastored the City Temple in London, he supported world missions. He loved to tell his church, the back wall of their church was the Rocky Mountains of America. Any church that is not burdened to get the message to those who have never heard; and who will not back that burden up with prayer; volunteers and money is not worthy of the name church.
3. Its Strengths
In this human sewage, like we live in today, there lived some congregations of God’s beautiful people. It was a large group. There were SEVERAL CONGREGATIONS- HOME CHURCHES (16:5) in Rome; a city of 1.5 million people, including about 50,000 Jews.
This seems to have bee an INFLUENTIAL church. We gather this from the number of churches; long list of names and workers (16:1-16)); and from the fact that Paul says, “their faith is talked about all over the world” (v8).
It was a COSMOPOLITAN church, made up of all kinds of people. In (2:27) Paul addresses the Jews in the church; and in (11:13) he addresses the Gentiles. These people had let the love of Christ in them, tear down the wall of prejudice between Jew and Gentile. Excavations of Rome led on ancient historian to note that from the earliest times Christians could be found even among the elite, including the palace of Caesar.
APPLICATION- What a church! THE DIVIDING WALLS WERE DOWN AND THE WELCOME MAT WAS THERE FOR EVERYONE. Jew and Gentile, slave and free, rich and poor, black and white, soldiers, etc., all joined hands as brothers and sisters.
It is also a MYSTERY church. We have no idea who founded it or where it came from. The best guess is that some of the people who were saved at Pentecost, Jew and Gentile Proselytes (Acts 2); went home to Rome and shared their faith with others. As Christians visited Rome, or moved to Rome, they were met by these Roman Christians.
APPLICATION: With no big budgets or busses or radio or TV, about a million people became Christians by the year 100. And it was by the preaching of men like Paul and the Eleven Apostles, and faithful pastors; but it was also by the witness of faithful laymen and women.
C. A DYNAMITE SALVATION TO RECEIVE (1-17)
1. Salvation is from the Story of Jesus (v2-4)
Paul said Jesus, as a human being (v2), was “from the line of David”; but.” “was made known as the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead (v4)”.
The word “gospel” means “good news”. Christianity is not primarily a new philosophy about life; a new ethic; or some new religious rituals; it is the telling the news of an event in history; the story of Jesus. The Gospel shouts several historical happenings: BETHLEHEM- God has come to earth as a human being (Jn. 1:1,14) PALESTINE- His name was Jesus of Nazareth, and though tempted like us; He lived a perfect, sinless life for 33 years (Heb. 4:15-18). CALVARY- Jesus offered up that perfect life as a sacrifice (Eph. 5:2) and died to pay for our sins (Rom. 3:21-24). RESURRECTION-- “Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes / Death could not hold its prey, He tore the bars away.” ASCENSION- He rose to the highest place in the universe (Phil. 2). SALVATION- He commands all men everywhere to repent-turn from sin () and trust in His sacrifice, so they can live lives of obedience, trust and love. ETERNITY- This is so they and go to heaven instead of hell. RETURN- Jesus will come back to this earth and will resurrect and judge every human being. EVANGELISM- We are to go until he comes and tell the news of salvation. (Please read Matt. 28:18-20-the church’s great commission; and Mk. 5:18-20- The Individual’s great commission)Everything we need to know we learned in SUNDAY SCHOOL.
ILLUSTRATION; A cab driver picked up a Christian missionary at the airport and drove him to his hotel. As they were going, the cab driver asked him, “With so many religions and so many religious leaders claiming to be right; how can we know which one is right?” The cab driver answered, “We follow the only one who rose from the dead.”
2. Salvation includes three things
The term “save” means “to deliver or rescue” and Jesus delivers us from three horrible dangers by giving us three wonderful blessings. Over 90 words are used in the Bible to describe salvation; but they all come under three blessings: (1) Forgiveness; (2) A Changed Character (3) The right to go to Heaven
1) Deliverance from sin’s damning penalty
Paul calls Christians “just” or “righteous” or “right with God (1:17) This was a first century courtroom word that means, “to be declared not guilty”. This means that God, the Judge and moral ruler of the universe, who will punish sin, looks at us when we become Christians and says, “Not guilty”. He says we are right with him.
Other Terms- God forgives us (Mt. 26:28); adopts us into His family (Eph. 1:5); puts our sins behind his back (Isa. 38:34); and remembers them no more (Heb. 10:17).
2) Deliverance from sins dominating power (Regeneration, Sanctification) Salvation changes lives. God never forgives a person he does not change. Jesus called it like being born all over again (Jn. 3). In regeneration (The new birth) we receive the new nature that enables us to live for the Lord (Sanctification- holy living). We see this here in:
THE NAME PAUL, the first word in the letter (v1) gives is living proof of this. Everyone knew who he was. Twenty years before his name was “Saul” and he been like a crazed terrorist, dragging Christians off to trial and death (Gal. 1:13). But Christ changed him.
Paul’s GOSPEL called for, “The obedience that results from faith.” (v6). And Paul was obedient. He called himself, a “SLAVE of Jesus Christ” (v1). This was the term for the lowest slave in the Empire. Not only was he like the trusted and honored “Apostle” like the servant who cared for the children of his master; he was like the lowest slave (doulos) who swept up after the horses and cleaned the latrines. Whatever Jesus asked him to do, he would do.
NOT PERFECTION (Rom. 7) This does not mean we become perfect and can live without doing wrong. We wrestle with bad habits and behavior all the way to the grave (Rom. 7:14ff) Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6) to pray for daily forgiveness. First John says the person who says he does not sin, is a liar (). Initial forgiveness means we receive a new, family relationship with God. He becomes our Father. Daily forgiveness means we restore fellowship with God.
3) Deliverance from sin’s defiling presence 13:11
(HEAVEN)
Romans 13:11 says our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. When we die, or if we are on earth when Jesus returns, we will be completely delivered from the presence of sin in heaven. There will be no sin in us because we will become like Jesus (1Jn. 3:2f) ; and there will be no sin around us, because nothing unclean can enter heaven (). Sin and suffering (Rev. 20:) are temporary.
3. Salvation is Through Faith (Rom. 1:17)
NOT WORKSWe are not saved by trying to be good and to do good. Paul says God’s laws of loving behavior only reveal that we are sinful (3:20). We are saved when we recognize our sin; recognize the seriousness of sin; turn from sin as a way of life; and trust Jesus Christ to give us salvation.
REPENTANT FAITH- Faith, in Scripture, includes repentance. That is why Peter told the people at Pentecost they had to repent to be saved (Acts 2:38) and Paul told the Gentile Jailer he had to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16) to be saved.
Repentance is a desire (Phil. 2:x) and a willingness to turn from a life controlled by sin. And faith means we turn to Jesus and His sacrifice, believing he is God’s appointed savior, committing to him our sins to forgive and our lives to change.”
4. Salvation is a gift
Paul said he “received grace” (v5). The word means a lovely gift. It means “something we need but do not deserve”. This does not mean, as followers of John Calvin teach, that we have nothing to do with salvation, and God decides whom He will and will not save. For JESUS TO COME AND DIE for those like us who killed him, was a gift we don’t deserve. For the HOLY SPIRIT TO COME to us, who do not want him to come, is a gift we do not deserve. But when the Spirit enables us to understand the Gospel (1 Cor. 2:14) and want it (Phil.2:13); we can choose or reject it. Paul said of his conversion, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19). He also said, “God, our Savior wants all people to be saved.” (1 Tim. 2:3,4)
If you and I do not go to heaven, it is not God’s fault, it is ours. None of us chooses hell, we simply are not willing to give up our lifestyle that leads there. You say, “I don’t understand Christianity.” God says if you understand that you are a great sinner and My Son Jesus is the great Savior of sinners, you understand enough.
D. A DYNAMITE SERVICE TO RENDER (1:1;8-9;11-12)
1. The Ministry of Representation (v1)
Paul was a chosen “APOSTLE”. The word means “representative- one sent on behalf of another.” There were the eleven plus Paul who were OFFICIAL (Mk. 3:14-15;Gal. 1:1) Apostles, but all of us are apostles (Acts 14:4,14), ambassadors for the Lord. EVERY CHILD OF GOD, is entrusted with the name and reputation of God. As people who claim to be Christians, the world will judge Jesus through us.
2. The Ministry of Preaching(v1,8,9)
Paul was “set apart for the gospel” (v1) and “served God in his spirit by preaching” (v9). But he also said the faith of the Roman Christians was being “talked about throughout the world” (v8). “You are penning each day a letter to men / Make sure the writing is true / You show Jesus to all you meet on the way / Say, what is the gospel according to you.?”
3. The Ministry of Prayer (v8-10) Paul let them know he was praying for them. He thanked God for their Christian example and asked God to let him visit them.
5. The Ministry of Mutual Strengthening (v11-12)
The “ten talent” Apostle Paul said he wanted to visit so he could share some things, and stabilize them in the Christian life. Then he added that they too could help him. Life is made worthwhile when we truly help someone be a better, stronger person. As a Pastor for over 40 years, church members I have known, are my heroes. They bury a child and sing the next Sunday, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” I hope I have helped others in the church. I know others have helped me.
Are you a lonely person? Loneliness is the price we pay for selfishness. The poet says, “Seldom can the heart be lonely, if it finds a lonelier still.” He is right. You and I can be special friends to someone.
