Romans

Paul writes the book to Roman believers. He opens the book with a greeting and establishes that Jesus is Lord and how He is not just for the Jews but for all people.

Paul thanks God for them and the faith that they have. He hopes to come visit them so that he can encourage them but also so that he can be encouraged by them for what God is doing in them. He has been prevented so far from visiting them but hopes to do so.

He notes that the Good News about Jesus Christ being Lord makes people right in His sight through faith in God.  

Paul then talks about how people have sinned against God even though God has made it clear through His creation the truth.  Through creation people can see God’s qualities – His power and divine nature.  As a result, no one has an excuse that they didn’t know. 

However, despite knowing about God and His qualities, humans rejected Him.  As a result, they began to think foolish ideas about God.  God left them to their own ways and they became dark in their own minds and walked away from His plan and design.  They traded truth for a lie.  They traded natural sexual desires between men and women for homosexuality and other sexual perversions.  Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness and evil.  They know that their actions deserve death but they do them anyway and encourage others to act the same way.     

Principles: The heavens declare the glory of God.  No one is without an opportunity to recognize God’s divine nature and what is right.  

Continuing on from the last chapter, Paul turns the tables a bit. He just finished talking about evil and sin and then tells his readers that while they condemn those things, they are just as bad and do the same things. He notes that God will punish anyone that is walking in sin. . .but then points out that God is being patient with us and His kindness is intended to turn us to repentance. He continues noting that there will be a day of judgment for all, whether Jew or Gentile and there will be glory, honor, and peace for those for those who do good and live for God. He points out that the Jews have a written law that they are to follow. However, even the Gentiles are guided by their conscience that is aligned with what the law has to say. God will judge everyone’s secret life.    

Paul notes that the Jews feel they have a special place with God because of the law.  They feel that they can teach the blind what they are to do because of their knowledge of the law.  However, Paul points out that they are teaching others to follow the law but don’t follow it themselves.  He notes that this causes the Gentiles to blaspheme God because of their hypocrisy.  He notes that circumcision without following the law does little good but that those Gentiles that follow the law and are not circumcised will condemn the Jews that had the law. 

The chapter ends with Paul noting that a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.  True circumcision is not just obeying the letter of the law but having a changed heart produced by God’s Spirit.  This person seeks God’s praise, not people’s praise.   

Principles:  Don’t be a hypocrite.  Live for God in word and deed.  True relationship with God is better than having the right pedigrees.  

In this chapter Paul goes through a series of arguments to make points. 

First, he continues from the previous chapter about being Jewish.  He talks about the benefits of being entrusted with the revelation of God to mankind.  He recognizes that there are those Jews that were unfaithful but he points out that it does NOT make God unfaithful.  

Next, Paul shares that some people say that sinning points out God’s righteousness and because of that it’s unfair of God to punish those that are sinning.  Paul points out that God is righteous and completely fair.  If He was not completely righteous and fair, he wouldn’t be qualified to judge the world.  But He is qualified.

Paul next points out that everyone is a sinner, including the Jews and that no one is better than anyone else.  Paul shares various scriptures pointing to the sinfulness of everyone.  He notes that the law is in place to show people how sinful they are and is not a way to become righteous. 

In the final section of the chapter, he points to faith in Jesus Christ as the way to righteousness.  He notes that everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard.  Through God’s kindness, though, we are declared righteous because Jesus freed us from the penalty of our sins through His sacrifice on the cross. We can’t boast that we have been accepted by God because of anything that we have done.  Only faith in Jesus, His efforts not ours, makes us right.  The one and only God makes us right with Himself through our faith in Jesus.  The law can only be fulfilled through faith in Jesus.  

Principles:  Faith in Jesus Christ is the one way to the Father.  God is fair and just.  His mercy is greater than we deserve.  

This chapter speaks about being made righteous before God, not through our efforts but through faith in God.  If it were through our efforts, it would not be a gift but our earnings.  However, it’s clear that our efforts could never be enough to make us righteous and only God’s gift of righteousness through faith in Him is enough. 

Abraham is the father of all who have faith in God and are made righteous, whether Jew or Gentile.  

The blessing of His gift of righteousness is made available to everyone because of the work (His death) on the cross and resurrection by Jesus. 

Principles:  Faith in God is the foundation on which God’s free gift is given.  It is the loophole that we have that is free to us and takes away our sin debt.   

We have peace in God because of the work of Jesus through His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. Through faith in Christ, we have been given a place that we don’t deserve in God’s presence. This is a privilege we don’t deserve but it is due to God’s grace. 

Paul notes the connection between facing problems and their ability to build endurance, strength of character, and, ultimately, confident hope in our salvation. God, through salvation, fills our hearts with love by the Holy Spirit   God showed us His great love for us by sending Jesus to die for us on the cross.  We are made right in God’s sight through faith in Jesus.  

Sin entered the world through Adam’s sin.  He represented us all through his sin.  However, Jesus’ death on the cross for us was greater than Adam’s sin.  His death was for all of us.  We are forgiven because of Jesus’ death.  He took the punishment for all of us.  God’s free gift was for all of us and is gift of righteousness for all who receive it.  We get relationship with God as a result of Jesus’ death for our sins.  

The law was given so that we could see how sinful we were through Adam’s sin.  Fortunately, God’s grace is greater than all sin and rules instead of sin.  We are made right with God through His grace.

Principles:  We grow in our faith through trouble we face.  Through God’s grace, we are afforded a place of privilege and relationship that was cut off through Adam’s sin.  We are restored because of Jesus’s death and resurrection.   

This chapter covers the concept of living to sin versus living a righteous life. Paul starts out by making sure that we understand that God’s grace is not perpetuated because of our sin. So, we should not keep on sinning to get more of His grace. When we are sinners, our proclivity is to sin. However, once we are born again, we have died to our sins and raised through Christ to live righteously before Him.  Paul notes that we should not let sin control us because we have died to sin and its power is broken in our lives.  Instead we should live as if we are slaves to righteous living.  While sin drew us into further sin, righteous living draws us into becoming holy in Jesus.  As sinners, our job was to sin.  As born again lovers of Jesus, our job is to live holy lives in relationship with Jesus.  As sinners we were earning death through our work sinning.  As believers in Jesus, we have accepted God’s free gift to us of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  

Principles: A sinner’s job is to sin. A believer’s job is to live righteously in relationship with God. While sin is covered by God’s grace, we are not set free to continue sinning. We are set free to live holy lives in relationship with God.  

Paul discusses how the law pointed out what was sin and sin used our understanding of right and wrong to condemn us to death and cause sin to rule in our lives. He notes, however, that we are only beholden to the law while we are alive using the example of a husband and wife being responsible to each other while both are alive. However, when one dies, the other is no longer responsible. Fortunately, we have died to sin when we accepted Jesus as our Lord through His death and resurrection. 

In our flesh, sin works to rule us and cause us to sin.  We try to do what is right but we miss the mark and sin anyway.  We love God’s law which is good and holy but sin uses it against us and works to make us slaves to sin.  This cycle is miserable.  But Jesus has made a way of escape from this misery.   

Principles: The law was holy and good but points out sin. Sin uses the law to condemn us and works to rule in us. So, even when we have tried on our own to do right, we fall into sin and are guilty of breaking the law. Only in dying are we free from the law. That death is submission to Jesus Christ as Lord who frees us from the power of death and sin which He conquered through His death on the cross and resurrection.