I think its proper for my first in-depth Book study to start on a more difficult passage. I've been moved to develop the knowledge I already have and, with the Spirit's help, begin to dive into the Letter to the Romans and see what God and the Spirit can't show me from each verse and chapter.
Romans 1: 1-4: Ancient letters started with a greeting, but Paul took this and instead used them to identify himself as an apostle, but then give glory to God and the Son. He starts by stating that Christ was pointed to thru the Scriptures, in this case the OT, and was established as a Son of Man by being humanly born into David's lineage and was a powerful Son of God because of His ascension over death by the "Spirit of holiness." This is a great example of how we should be known to everyone: "Oh hi, I'm Chris, but more importantly Christ."
Verses 5-7: Paul already begins to work away at the idea that works can bring about salvation. Notice the order that he lists glory and obedience: because of the grace and apostleship that we gained from Christ, we can adopt a spirit of obedience. Not the other way around when we are obedient and obtain grace due to that. Not only that, but by His grace can we spread this spirit of obedience to ALL of the nations. Paul then states that even the Romans are included: this was a big deal. Remember when God's saving grace was only available to Jews? Because of Christ's death, salvation was made available to all. Notice, too, that they are called "as" saints, not "to be" saints. It's not something that will happen eventually, but when Christ is invited into the heart.
Verses 8-15: Paul then states that he wishes to go to Rome. But, due to God's sovereignty and Paul's obedience, he does not make it. This is a beautiful picture of God's timing and our response. As much as Paul was wanting to go to Rome, we know that God had different plans for him. After a while, he was imprisoned in Rome and was able to spread the Gospels there for two years without hinderance! (Acts 28:31) If you have ever wondered about God's timing, ask yourself about these verses: Why didn't God allow Paul to visit and spread the Gospel in the biggest country in the world? Because that's not what His plans called for then. We know, though, from Acts (as mentioned about) that God did bring Paul to Rome in His glorious timing.
Another thing to notice is that ancient customs said that one was to include a prayer in the beginning of the letters that they write. Paul, instead of a simple prayer to a given god, told them that he was extremely happy in hearing reports of their faith and wished to go see them, asking God for His will in doing so. As angels rejoice at the repentance of a sinner (Luke 15:10), Paul was extremely glad to hear of the news of their faith and their house churches.
Verses 16-17: Paul tells that he is not ashamed of the Gospel. Okay, but what does that matter?
1. the story is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. (1 Corinthians 1:23) To the Jews, it was the story of a failed Messiah. You see, their view was that the Messiah was going to come as a conquering warrior, freeing the Jews from their Roman oppressors. The Messiah who did come did not free them from their oppressions (physically), instead He was crucified by them. The Jews still wait, to this day, for a conquering Messiah. Why was it foolish to Gentiles? It's a story of Jewish carpenter who taught peace, but in the end was crucified by the Roman government. People who were crucified were considered to be the lowliest members of society, so how were either groups supposed to believe that He held the power of salvation?
2. The Roman Christians came up against SEVERE persecution. It was a time where people turned back to Judaism (a legal religion in Rome), or gave up religion altogether. It was an easy time to deny the Gospels, but Paul encouraged them by saying that he had kept the faith and that they should, too.
He knows that his power of words won't convince them, but it's an act of faith to believe brought on by God himself. He again states that it is by faith and not works that man shall live.
Verses 18-23: God's just and divine wrath was turned against the Gentiles because, Paul says, that they had every opportunity to know of God. His invisible attributes were seen all around and that they had no excuse to not worship God. Instead, in their hearts, they repressed the truth and clung to human foolishness. Instead of giving God the glory that they know He deserves, their minds were darkened (a consequence of turning away from the truth) and they became fools and gave false images and idols the glory that God alone deserves.
Verses 24-25: Because of their sins, God turned them over to the desires of their hearts. Another time that this happened was in 1 Kings 16:29-33. This was an act of His judgment and wrath against a society who turned against the obvious proof and existence of the Creator God. They gave His glory to a created image rather than the Creator.
Verses 26-27: Most people would argue that they were born gay. According to this passage, they were not, but God turned them over to their lusts because that was the desire of their heart. The passage clearly states that this is a perversion of the way that God has designed humans. In Genesis 2, and referrenced by Jesus in Matthew 5, because Eve was made from a rib of Adam's, marriage is a bond that returns two people into a whole being. God did not create a man from the man's rib, but instead made Eve from his rib. Two men and two women cannot create the unity that God designed when he made woman from man. Paul notes that the men and women are acting in "perversion".
Verses 28-31: Because of their choice to avoid God and choose foolishness, they were turned over to their unnatural desires and their foolish minds. These foolish minds resulted in this list of 21 sins, with some interesting choices: disobedient to their parents, gossips and unmerciful. How many of us can be this way? Now to the scary relevant part (not that the rest wasn't): not only did these people know what they were doing was wrong and they even knew that this would result in death, but they applauded the others who commit these acts! Don't we see that even today, still? Its almost scary how close America is becoming to Bible time Rome...and we know how that ended. (Hint: Not well.)
Can we still learn from Romans? Absolutely! Look at Paul's point that permeates the entire text: the just shall live by faith. Righteousness comes from a spirit of obedience granted by God's grace. Also look at how close America is to the Rome that Paul wrote to: full of sin and the sin was so popular people applauded those who practiced! The need for the Gospel is incredible even in America. It's sad that there are countries out there who do not have their own Bible in their own language: how much more sad that a country where Bibles are the number one sold book doesn't know what it says or teaches or the freedom that it offers!
Remember that God makes himself evident throughout: everybody knows that a Creator God exists, but they choose to suppress the truth. Peter talks about this, too: nobody is without excuse when standing before God. Our words and our skills cannot convince them: only a holy act of God can fully change a heart into repentance.
Romans 1: 1-4: Ancient letters started with a greeting, but Paul took this and instead used them to identify himself as an apostle, but then give glory to God and the Son. He starts by stating that Christ was pointed to thru the Scriptures, in this case the OT, and was established as a Son of Man by being humanly born into David's lineage and was a powerful Son of God because of His ascension over death by the "Spirit of holiness." This is a great example of how we should be known to everyone: "Oh hi, I'm Chris, but more importantly Christ."
Verses 5-7: Paul already begins to work away at the idea that works can bring about salvation. Notice the order that he lists glory and obedience: because of the grace and apostleship that we gained from Christ, we can adopt a spirit of obedience. Not the other way around when we are obedient and obtain grace due to that. Not only that, but by His grace can we spread this spirit of obedience to ALL of the nations. Paul then states that even the Romans are included: this was a big deal. Remember when God's saving grace was only available to Jews? Because of Christ's death, salvation was made available to all. Notice, too, that they are called "as" saints, not "to be" saints. It's not something that will happen eventually, but when Christ is invited into the heart.
Verses 8-15: Paul then states that he wishes to go to Rome. But, due to God's sovereignty and Paul's obedience, he does not make it. This is a beautiful picture of God's timing and our response. As much as Paul was wanting to go to Rome, we know that God had different plans for him. After a while, he was imprisoned in Rome and was able to spread the Gospels there for two years without hinderance! (Acts 28:31) If you have ever wondered about God's timing, ask yourself about these verses: Why didn't God allow Paul to visit and spread the Gospel in the biggest country in the world? Because that's not what His plans called for then. We know, though, from Acts (as mentioned about) that God did bring Paul to Rome in His glorious timing.
Another thing to notice is that ancient customs said that one was to include a prayer in the beginning of the letters that they write. Paul, instead of a simple prayer to a given god, told them that he was extremely happy in hearing reports of their faith and wished to go see them, asking God for His will in doing so. As angels rejoice at the repentance of a sinner (Luke 15:10), Paul was extremely glad to hear of the news of their faith and their house churches.
Verses 16-17: Paul tells that he is not ashamed of the Gospel. Okay, but what does that matter?
1. the story is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. (1 Corinthians 1:23) To the Jews, it was the story of a failed Messiah. You see, their view was that the Messiah was going to come as a conquering warrior, freeing the Jews from their Roman oppressors. The Messiah who did come did not free them from their oppressions (physically), instead He was crucified by them. The Jews still wait, to this day, for a conquering Messiah. Why was it foolish to Gentiles? It's a story of Jewish carpenter who taught peace, but in the end was crucified by the Roman government. People who were crucified were considered to be the lowliest members of society, so how were either groups supposed to believe that He held the power of salvation?
2. The Roman Christians came up against SEVERE persecution. It was a time where people turned back to Judaism (a legal religion in Rome), or gave up religion altogether. It was an easy time to deny the Gospels, but Paul encouraged them by saying that he had kept the faith and that they should, too.
He knows that his power of words won't convince them, but it's an act of faith to believe brought on by God himself. He again states that it is by faith and not works that man shall live.
Verses 18-23: God's just and divine wrath was turned against the Gentiles because, Paul says, that they had every opportunity to know of God. His invisible attributes were seen all around and that they had no excuse to not worship God. Instead, in their hearts, they repressed the truth and clung to human foolishness. Instead of giving God the glory that they know He deserves, their minds were darkened (a consequence of turning away from the truth) and they became fools and gave false images and idols the glory that God alone deserves.
Verses 24-25: Because of their sins, God turned them over to the desires of their hearts. Another time that this happened was in 1 Kings 16:29-33. This was an act of His judgment and wrath against a society who turned against the obvious proof and existence of the Creator God. They gave His glory to a created image rather than the Creator.
Verses 26-27: Most people would argue that they were born gay. According to this passage, they were not, but God turned them over to their lusts because that was the desire of their heart. The passage clearly states that this is a perversion of the way that God has designed humans. In Genesis 2, and referrenced by Jesus in Matthew 5, because Eve was made from a rib of Adam's, marriage is a bond that returns two people into a whole being. God did not create a man from the man's rib, but instead made Eve from his rib. Two men and two women cannot create the unity that God designed when he made woman from man. Paul notes that the men and women are acting in "perversion".
Verses 28-31: Because of their choice to avoid God and choose foolishness, they were turned over to their unnatural desires and their foolish minds. These foolish minds resulted in this list of 21 sins, with some interesting choices: disobedient to their parents, gossips and unmerciful. How many of us can be this way? Now to the scary relevant part (not that the rest wasn't): not only did these people know what they were doing was wrong and they even knew that this would result in death, but they applauded the others who commit these acts! Don't we see that even today, still? Its almost scary how close America is becoming to Bible time Rome...and we know how that ended. (Hint: Not well.)
Can we still learn from Romans? Absolutely! Look at Paul's point that permeates the entire text: the just shall live by faith. Righteousness comes from a spirit of obedience granted by God's grace. Also look at how close America is to the Rome that Paul wrote to: full of sin and the sin was so popular people applauded those who practiced! The need for the Gospel is incredible even in America. It's sad that there are countries out there who do not have their own Bible in their own language: how much more sad that a country where Bibles are the number one sold book doesn't know what it says or teaches or the freedom that it offers!
Remember that God makes himself evident throughout: everybody knows that a Creator God exists, but they choose to suppress the truth. Peter talks about this, too: nobody is without excuse when standing before God. Our words and our skills cannot convince them: only a holy act of God can fully change a heart into repentance.
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