Lessons From Romans – Lesson 1
To many groups that claim the name of Christ and who put a sign out front with the word church on it Romans is a hard book full of mystery and they are perplexed by it.
Albert Barnes commented on this.
“Where there is a willingness that God should reign and do all his pleasure, this epistle may be in its general character easily understood. Where this is wanting, it will appear full of mystery and perplexity; the mind will be embarrassed, and the heart dissatisfied with its doctrines; and the unhumbled spirit will rise from its study only confused, irritated, perplexed, and dissatisfied.” – Albert Barnes
I am excited that we are going thru the book of Romans. It not only lays out very plainly the sin of man and very clearly shows that the only way to be justified before God is by faith, and lays out how to be saved, but it will also present Jesus high and lifted up and it will give encouragement and instructions and admonition for Christians to really live for Jesus.
The main theme of the Book of Romans is man is a sinner, Justification is by Faith, and once saved we should live accordingly.
I believe that the verses that are called the Romans Road have been used to lead more people to Christ than any others. And Christians are for the most part very familiar with those hand full of verses, but all Christians should be more familiar than they are with the entire book of Romans.
It explains a lot about what we see in our world.
Rom 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
I love the way Paul starts this letter. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. He not only put Jesus first in this letter, but from studying Acts we learned that Paul put serving Jesus first in his life.
He worked and traveled and taught and preached and planted churches and went back and edified churches and wrote letters. He taught wherever he could. In the Synagogue and in house churches and by the river and in the markets and even on Mars Hill in Athens.
Paul went and taught and preached when he had full support like the 1st missionary journey and Paul still went when he did not. And in those times he made tents to pay the bills.
He preached what Jesus wanted him to when he had a group that was eager to hear and he preached what Jesus wanted him to when he had groups that mocked or scoffed and even when he had hostile crowds.
Paul even kept going and teaching and preaching after he was stoned and left for dead.
Paul separated himself unto the purpose of being a servant of Jesus and Paul separated himself to the work of the Gospel. And yes Paul did have a period where he got off track and would not listen to the Spirit about not going to Jerusalem. In comparison to all the years Paul served Jesus that time period was very short and Paul got right back on track.
Being a servant of Jesus is actually a high privilege. He is worthy of Christians who will chose to be a servant separated to the Gospel.
One thing that is helpful to understand when reading Romans is that this letter is written to Jewish believers in Rome. So we will see a large amount of references to the Old Testament. Far more than you will see in a book like 1 Corinthians which was written to a church of mostly Gentile believers.
So the next thing Paul does is mention the fact that Jesus is the promised Messiah.
Rom 1:2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
Rom 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies that the Savior would come thru the line of David according to the flesh. Jesus was both fully man and fully God at the same time. As man he came thru the line of David.
Rom 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
The name Son of God is a reference to the deity of Jesus. He is God the Son co-equal with God the Father and God the Spirit. These 3 are one. There is only 1 God manifested to us in 3 distinct personalities.
And only the death of a pure holy God was sufficient to pay for our sins. Put praise God He did not stay dead. He was raised again to show that the payment for sin had been made. And when He was raised from the dead he was declared to be God the Son with power.
Jesus had the power to raise from the dead. Jesus has the power to forgive sins. Jesus had the power to pay for our sins. Jesus has the keys to death, hell, and the grave.
Jesus went to the cross as a Lamb led to the slaughter. But never again. He only had to die once for everyone. His death was fully sufficient. He is now raised with power sitting on the throne. He is the king of kings and the lord of lords.
He has the power to hear every prayer, He has the power of being all knowing and all present. He has the power to never leave you nor forsake you. He has the power to give you the grace that you need for any situation.
Jesus has been declared to be the Son of God with power. It has been declared. It is a fact. This is something that has not been told in secret or in whispers. It has been boldly declared for all.
And by Jesus we have received grace, which is unmerited favor, and instructions on what He wants us to be busy about.
Rom 1:5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Jesus gives us grace to help us be obedient to the faith. He does. He will not force it on you, Christians can chose to backslide. But grace is available to be obedient to the faith.
Jesus said if ye love me keep my commandments. Those can be summed up as Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself and what we call the great commission.
Everything that you can think of that qualifies for obedience to the faith will fit under one of those 3, some will even fit in 2 or 3 of them at the same time.
And Christians are to live this way among all nations. Christians are to be concerned about and involved in getting the Gospel to all nations. The Gospel is for all nations. Jesus told us to go to all nations.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
And the reason why we are to have obedience to the faith among all nations is for his name. We are to do this for His glory. We are to do this because of who He is and what He has done for us.
We are to do it because He is worthy. We should want to see the name of Jesus magnified all around the world with souls being saved and lives changed.
This is the calling for all Christians. Look at verse 6.
Rom 1:6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:
This calling for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: is not just for the apostles. It is also for all Christians. Some falsely teach that the called here means that Jesus forces some to go to hell and they do not have any choice about it and some Jesus calls to be saved and they also have no choice about it. That is not Biblical at all.
It is true that every man does have a free will. But it is also true that God must bring conviction and open the eyes. And it is also true that Jesus calls all men.
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
John 12:33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.
Speaking of the cross Jesus taught that He will draw all men. God wants and calls all men to be saved. The call goes out to everyone.
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Everyone who gets saved was called. But not everyone who is called gets saved.
While that is true, that is not the call that verse 6 is talking about. The context is talking about being called for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Rom 1:6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:
Notice the colon at the end of verse 5. That means verse 5 and verse 6 are connected talking about the same truth. The call in verse 6 is every Christian has been called by God to be involved in living his faith before all nations and called to be concerned about and involved in getting the Word of God out to all nations.
All Christians are called to do this. It is sad but if you look out at Christianity most are not really involved in or care much about it. All are called to be involved but few answer that call.
Rom 1:7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And God has the grace for us to do that. And we see an example of that with the Roman Christians Paul is writing to.
Rom 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
Their faith was spoken of. Not just in their little church. Not just in their city. Their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world.
That is quite a statement.
Put on the common sense for a moment. People would not be talking about their faith throughout the whole world unless it was worth talking about. People would not mention it if there was nothing much to mention.
The only thing that makes sense is if these Jewish Christians in Rome had a deep working faith that moved and acted. They had faith so they did things based on that faith. This could include living clean lives separated unto God. This could include loving God, having services in a hostile environment as well as keeping the commands of Jesus.
There active faith could include helping the fatherless and widows and the poor. And I think it would include witnessing to others and being involved in getting God’s word out. And I think it would include prayer and seeing results from those prayers.
We are not informed of all the details. We are just told that their faith was such that it was worth talking about throughout the world.
And we see a connection between God working in lives and with prayer.
Rom 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
The Roman Christians were working and getting results and all the while Paul was praying. I have no doubt that the Roman Christians were also praying.
There is a Biblical principal of praying for the work of others. In 2 Cor 1:11 Paul writes
Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
The prayer of the Corinthians was helping Paul’s Work. And here in Romans we see that Paul’s prayers were helping the work of the Roman Christians.
This is one of God’s plans. That many will be involved in the asking so that many will be involved in giving thanks for God. God is honored in the asking, He is honored in the answering and He is honored in the giving of thanks.
Next we see that Paul wants to be a blessing to them.
Rom 1:10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
Rom 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
Rom 1:12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
Paul wanted to go spend time with the believers in Rome. And notice Paul did not put himself above them. Paul wanted to be comforted together with them by the mutual faith of you and me.
The ground is level at the cross. They were saved by the same Lord with the same simple faith. Yes Paul did have Apostle Authority. But in all areas that did not involve exercising that authority Paul considered himself on the same level ground as other believers.
You will see this in many of Paul’s letters. He did not consider himself in a separate super Christian class that was way above the lowly sitters in the pew class. I have actually seen people who do that and that is very unbiblical.
Paul wanted to gather with them and be comforted together with their mutual faith. But that was not God’s plan for Paul at this time.
Rom 1:13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
God is on the throne. And God does have a plan and He does have perfect timing for things. God is very concerned about His word and He is very active in His work.
And His timing and His perfect knowledge and His plan does not always coincide with our desires for His work.
Paul wanted to go be with the Roman believers. And there is nothing wrong with that. Paul’s desire is a good one. And one day God will let that happen. But not right now. God has other work for Paul to be doing.
You can have a perfectly good idea to want to be a blessing to someone or you might have a heart for a certain area of service to God. But that does not mean that it is God’s will for your life or that it is God’s timing.
Paul had a strong desire to preach to them.
Rom 1:14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
Rom 1:15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Paul wanted to go to Rome but Paul was wise and let God open doors and shut doors. And Paul was sensitive enough to God’s leading to recolonize that it was not God’s time for him to go.
That is a good example for us. We need to realize that even if our idea and desire is really good and there is nothing wrong with it, that does not mean that it is God’s will for our lives at this moment in time. And we need to be sensitive to and follow God’s leading.
If God shuts the door on something, even if it is something that there is nothing wrong with, even if it is something that is good like Paul wanting to go and preach at Rome, when God shuts the door we need to trust in His wisdom, and trust in His love for us, and wait on His timing.
We are to live by and walk by faith and not by sight.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Every Christians is called for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Every Christian is to not be ashamed of the Gospel and every believer is to care about and be involved in getting the Gospel to all nations like Jesus said to do.
And we are to live by faith following His leading.