Grace Community Church, Arlington, TX

Paul wrote Romans from Corinth, toward the close of his third missionary journey (most likely in A.D. 56). Some of those converted on the Day of Pentecost probably founded the church at Rome. Paul had long sought to visit the Roman church but had been prevented from doing so. In God’s providence, Paul’s inability to visit Rome gave the world this inspired masterpiece of gospel doctrine, the book of Romans.

As Paul writes this letter, an understanding the gospel is what was most important to Paul.

What Paul wants to get through to those in Rome is the truth of the gospel. We summarize the book of Romans into four parts: The Wrath of God (1-3), The Grace of God (3-8), The Plan of God (9-11), and The Will of God (12-16)

The wrath of God is directed against all those who deliberately suppress what they know to be true and right, in order to go their own way. For everybody has some knowledge of God and of goodness, whether through the created world, or through conscience, or through the moral law written on human hearts, or through the law of Moses committed to the Jews.

Paul divided the human race into three sections—depraved pagan society, critical moralizers whether Jews or Gentiles, and well instructed, self-confident Jews. He concludes by accusing the whole human race of sin and deserving God’s wrath.

And each argument is the same--nobody lives up to the knowledge which he or she has. Even the special privileges of the Jews do not exempt them from divine judgment. No, Jews and Gentiles alike are all sinful, guilty and without excuse before God.

When we get to Rom 3:21, Paul says “But now” …For into the universal darkness of human sin and guilt the light of the gospel has shone.

God, through His amazing grace, made a way to justify the unjust. It was through the cross of Christ in which God demonstrated His justice as well as His love. And it is available to “all who believe”, whether Jews or Gentiles.

In explaining the cross, Paul resorts to three key words ‘propitiation’, ‘redemption’, and ‘justification’.

Propitiation--All God’s wrath has been absorbed by Christ’s death on the cross. Because of that, we don’t need to be judged by God because justice has already been done.

Redemption--In redemption, someone’s release or deliverance is accomplished at the cost of a payment.What’s the payment? The answer is that the life of the Son of God is the ransom paid in redemption. His life was the payment for our release. The wages of sin is death. (Rom 6:23) But Jesus paid those wages with His death on the cross for us.

Justification--Rom 5:1 Therefore Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Cor 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Christ not only takes our sins away in redemption, and we are now clean. He gives us His righteousness in justification, and we are now seen by God like He sees His own, Heroic Son.

(And that gets us to Romans 4) Romans 4 is a brilliant essay in which Paul proves that Abraham, the founding father of Israel, was himself justified neither by his works, nor by his circumcision, nor by the law, but by faith. In consequence, Abraham is now ‘the father of all who believe’, irrespective of whether they are Jews or Gentiles.

Two human communities have now been portrayed in Paul’s letter, the one characterized by sin and guilt, and the other by grace and faith. The head of the old humanity is Adam, the head of the new is Christ. So, Paul compares and contrasts them both in chapter 5. The comparison is simple. In both cases the one deed of one man has affected enormous numbers of people. Adam’s disobedience brought condemnation and death, Christ’s obedience has brought justification and life.

In the middle of this antithesis between Adam and Christ, Paul introduces Moses: ‘The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. (5:20) So, the question arose, “Did Paul’s gospel encourage sin and criticize the law?”

Paul answers the first question in Romans 6 and the second questions in Romans 7.

Twice in Romans 6 (1 and 15) we hear Paul’s critics asking whether Paul meant that we may go on sinning so that God’s grace may go on forgiving. Both times Paul responds with an outraged “God forbid!” For Christians to ask such a question shows that they have never understood the meaning of either their baptism (1-14) or their conversion (15-23).

Did they not know that their baptism signified union with Christ in His death, that His death was a death ‘unto sin’ (meeting its demand, paying its penalty), and they had shared in His resurrection too! By union with Christ, they were themselves ‘dead unto sin and alive unto God’. So, how then could they go on living in what they had died to?

It was similar with their conversion. Had they not decisively offered themselves to God as His slaves? Then how could they contemplate lapsing into their old slavery to sin?

Our baptism and conversion have both closed the door on the old life and opened a door on to a new life. It is not impossible for us to go back, but it is inconceivable that we should. Far from encouraging sin, grace prohibits it.

Paul’s critics were also disturbed by his teaching on the OTLaw. So, he clarifies it in Rom 7. He makes these points. First (1-6), Christians have ‘died to the law’ in Christ, just as they have ‘died to sin’. Consequently, they are ‘released’ from the law, that is, from its condemnation, and are now free not to sin, but to serve in the way of the Spirit.

Secondly, writing out of his own past (7-13), Paul argues that, although the law reveals, provokes and condemns sin, it is not responsible for sin or death. No, the law is holy. Paul exonerates the law.

And as Rom 7 is full of the law, so Rom 8 is full of the Spirit. During the first half of Rom 8, Paul describes some of the very varied ministries of the Holy Spirit—liberating us, indwelling us, giving us life, leading us into self-control, witnessing with our spirit that we are God’s children, and interceding for us. In the last 12 verses of Rom 8, he fortifies us with 15assurances of God’s steadfast love, from which nothing can ever separate us.

How is it that the Jewish people as a whole had rejected their Messiah? How could their unbelief be reconciled with God’s covenant and promises? How also did the inclusion of the Gentiles fit in with God’s plan?

In Ch 9 Paul defends God’s covenant loyalty on the ground that His promises were not addressed to all Jacob’s descendants, but to Israel within Israel, a remnant, since He has always worked according to His purpose of election (11).And that Scripture itself foretold the calling of Gentiles as well as Jews to be His people (24-29).

So, Paul goes on to affirm that Israel ‘stumbled over the stumbling stone’, namely Christ and His cross. This is to accuse Israel of a proud unwillingness to submit to God’s way of salvation, and of a religious zeal which was not based on knowledge (9:30-10:4). The unbelief of Israel, in Rom 10, is attributed to their pride, ignorance and stubbornness.

With Ch 11, Paul looks into the future. He declares that Israel’s fall is neither total, since there is a believing remnant (1-10), nor final, since God has not rejected His people and they will recover (11). If through Israel’s fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, now through the Gentile’s salvation, Israel will be made envious (12). Indeed, Paul see his evangelistic ministry in terms of arousing his own people to envy, in order to save some of them (13-14).

Paul goes on to develop his allegory of the olive tree and teaches two lessons from it. The first is a warning to the Gentiles (the wild olive shoot which has been grafted in) not to presume or boast (17-22). And the second is a promise to Israel (the natural branches) that if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted back in again (23-24).

Paul’s vision for the future, which he calls a mystery or revelation is that when the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, all Israel will be saved as well (25-27). The fulfillment of the Great Commission and the full repentance of Israel will happen at the same time. And this prospect leads Paul to break out into a doxology, in which he praises God for the depth of both His riches and His wisdom (33-36).

Paul now calls the Roman Christians to not be conformed to the world but to be transformed by renewed minds which discern God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.

In the chapters that follow it becomes clear that God’s good will is concerned with all our relationships, which are radically changed by the gospel. Paul treats eight of them, namely, our relationship to God, ourselves, each other, our enemies, the state, the law, the last day and the weak.

Our renewed minds, which begin by seeking God’s will (1-2), are also to evaluate ourselves and our gifts soberly, and not to have either too high or too low opinion of ourselves (3-8). Our relationship to one another follows naturally from the mutual ministries which our gifts make possible.

The love which binds members of the Christian family together will include sincerity, affection, honor, patience, hospitality, sympathy, harmony and humility (9-16).

In conclusion, Paul describes his ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles, together with his policy to preach the gospel only where Christ is not known (15:14-22);he shares with them his travel plans to visit them on his way to Spain, but first to take the offering to Jerusalem as a symbol of Jewish-Gentile solidarity (15:23-29); and he asks for their prayers.

And he ends the letter where he began, with a focus on the gospel of Christ, the commission of God, the outreach to the nations and the summons to the obedience of the faith.

With Ch 11, Paul looks into the future. He declares that Israel’s fall is neither total, since there is a believing remnant (1-10), nor final, since God has not rejected His people and they will recover (11). If through Israel’s fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, now through the Gentile’s salvation, Israel will be made envious (12). Indeed, Paul see his evangelistic ministry in terms of arousing his own people to envy, in order to save some of them (13-14).