Romans Preview
This letter to the church in Rome is one of the most theologically rich books in all of the Bible. Before we dive into this book, it is important that we take a moment to understand who wrote it, to whom it was written, and how it relates to us today. Paul, who wrote this letter to the Church at Rome, was the rare Jewish Roman citizen, but had yet to visit the city since his conversion. The consensus among historians is that Paul wrote this letter on his third missionary journey while he was staying in Corinth. Paul eventually would arrive in Rome as a prisoner under house arrest awaiting trial based on his “appeal to Caesar” as a Roman citizen (Acts 21-28).
At the time of this letter, Gentiles formed most of the church of Rome. Early on, Rome enjoyed a large population of both Jew and Gentile Christians, but Emperor Claudius banished Jews from Rome, leaving mainly Gentiles to carry the church. Emperor Nero began persecuting Christians soon after his ascension to power, and it is in this political climate the church at Rome receives Paul’s letter.
The city of Rome was one of the largest and most diverse Mediterranean cities of the day. It served as the hub for politics, trade, and society, dispersing its influence throughout the massive Roman Empire. Think of Washington, D.C, New York, and Los Angeles rolled into one. This power and wealth combined with cultures and beliefs from around the Mediterranean world led to a list of vices the history of humanity attests to well: a thirst for violence, sexual immorality, abuse of the poor, degradation of the weak, political discord, and a lack of true spiritual faith. This is the world in which the Roman Gentile Christians lived and to whom Paul writes.
There is so much in Romans that we can learn from today. These 16 chapters, while dense with theology, are also loaded with practical applications for us. As we read this book over the next couple of weeks, pay attention to every word on the page–you don’t want to miss anything. Thanks for journeying along with us!
Read Romans 1
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Longing to Visit Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Go Deeper
Paul opens this letter to the church at Rome by doing what he does all throughout this book: pointing to the Gospel. His life was radically transformed by the Gospel and he had been set apart as an apostle—one who had been given authority on behalf of Christ to carry this message forward. Paul makes it clear that he wants to get to Rome so he can preach this message in person, but in the meantime he is going to unpack this message via letter.
The 16 chapters in Romans are a theological discourse all centered around the Gospel message. This idea that humanity is sinful, but God sent His son to Jesus to live a sinless life, die, and rise again for the purpose of redeeming those who believe in Him is all throughout this book. In Romans 1, Paul briefly sets up that the Gospel is for everyone: Jews and Gentiles, wise and foolish. Everyone can be saved. But the thing about salvation is that you have to be saved from something. If we fool ourselves into thinking we can be pro-Jesus but not acknowledge our need for salvation we have missed the mark entirely.
The back half of this chapter is Paul’s best effort to display just how depraved humanity actually is. It starts with a refusal to acknowledge who God is from the point of creation. We fall into idolatry and create little gods all around us. We like to look to anything other than the One true God to meet our needs and fulfill our empty desires. We fall into perversion, and we chase all kinds of sexual desires as if that is the thing that is going to fulfill us. We slander, we deceive, we murder, and verse 31 even says we “invent ways of doing evil”. We creatively run from things of God and to things of this world.
Two thousand years later, the problems of this world are not all that different. We still craft little gods and run towards sexual immorality. We still gossip and boast. We still live as if this life is all there is. But the good news for us is the same good news Paul preached in Romans 1:16: “It is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes”. Even in the midst of our failures, there is hope for everyone who believes in the Gospel. That is the theme of this book and Paul will continue to unpack that idea for the next fifteen chapters.
Questions
- What did God save you from? Why is it important to remember your own depravity?
- Do you find yourself living in a way that fails to acknowledge God? Why is that?
- How does the Gospel give you hope? What are 2-3 truths that you can set your mind upon today?
Did You Know?
The origins of Christianity’s foundation in Rome is unknown. The church at Rome was composed of small groups gathering in homes rather than an organized assembly. Early tradition claims Peter and Paul both visited the city of Rome and established the first churches there, but scholars believe Roman Jews were present during the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem and returned to the capital with stories of Jesus and the apostles.
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7 thoughts on “Romans 1”
4 points to ponder:
1. We are called to belong to Jesus. (V6)
2. Believers are to mutually encourage each others’ faith.
(v12)
3. The righteous live by faith. (V17)
4. God has made it plain who he is, so that we are
without excuse. (V20)
What a privilege and responsibility! Knowing Christ’s sacrifice to save us, we daily are being sanctified, set apart as holy and consecrated. The choices we make reflect who we follow in gratitude, devotion, and worship. May the flame of Christ’s resurrection power burn brightly in us as we shatter the darkness of this world with the good news of God’s amazing redemption plan.
Let’s make it a point to live out the glory of the resurrection every day of our lives.
We were made, created to worship God, the one true God. BUT GOD wanted us to want Him so He gave freedom of will. Over time we have sunk lower and lower in our rejection of God. God of course knew so He had planned for our craziness. Romans 1:17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross His death and resurrection made our salvation available to the believing sinner. So Romans is a journey through what the Romans were going through and is very similar to this day and time our journey. Paul is encouraging them and us that we can experience victory, liberty and security through obedience. BE RIGHT. the righteousness of God received by faith makes it possible for us to live right lives. (W. Wiersbe)
Thank You God for active believing faith. I know what Jesus accomplished. Thank You that I can live accordingly. Thank You for me seeing people through Your love goggles. Thank You that I speak words that are glorifying to You. Thank You for doing right things and making right choices to edify, glorify and ultimately show people who You are in Jesus name amen.
WOOHOO!!!!
I love these questions: “ How does the Gospel give you hope? What are 2-3 truths that you can set your mind upon today?”
> the knowledge of our inheritance in heaven being set gives me Hope; I know I will be set free from ALL the sorrow and suffering caused by sin. AND get to live in that joyous freedom forever. (Matthew 25:34, Revelation 21:4)
Truths: if those who have rejected Him are given over to their wickedness, and… (Romans 1:29-31) then IN Christ,
> I am filled with righteousness, good, generosity, and fulfillment.
> I am full of contentment, a love of life, grace, honesty and goodwill.
> I am slow to speak, an encourager, love my God, respectful, humble and meek; invent ways of doing good; obey//honor my parents; have understanding, fidelity, love, and mercy.
Oh, that I would accept those gifts and blessings daily! That I would lay down my sinful, fleshly desires to take up my cross and walk in The Way that He has set before me!!
Well said, Lizzie! Thanks for sharing!
“Trading the Truth for a Lie”
As a woman in recovery, celebrating my new life in Christ, there’s no question of the relevance of this passage. Verses 1:24-25 are deeply personal … and painfully clear:
“Given over to the sinful desires of [my] heart to sexual impurity…and shameful lusts… [I] exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.”
For most of my life, this has taken the form of romantic fiction.
I’ve since learned to call it what it really is – “fictional” pornography – and literary ADULTERY.
Once upon a time I thought pornography was only a visual medium, delivered mainly through the Internet – and mostly to men. Romance novels are just a woman’s “guilty pleasure,” right? But such thinking is just more deadly fiction. The enemy has no trouble coming after us through the printed page.
Marriage minister Jimmy Evans identifies the harm of pornography as something that “over-sexualizes women – and over-emotionalizes men.”
Testify! How many times have I tried to satisfy the desires of my heart by escaping into “created” tales of make-believe romance, complete with just the right words, moves and music?! But all these carefully curated stories ever do is pull me further away from my real-life LOVE.
Praise God, thanks to Regeneration:Recovery I have found the means to break the chains of my addiction and experience true freedom in Christ:
• I ADMIT all my addiction must cost – that the price of such sin is nothing short of death. Emotional, spiritual death.
• I CHANGED MY PLAYGROUND:
I’ve blocked access to sinful substances on every device—but I’ve had to get much more strategic to take my thoughts captive. It’s not enough to remove—I’ve had to replace. I guard my mind by curating what I watch, read and listen to, focusing on that which lifts my spirit and fills my soul.
• I continue to CONFESS my sins and ask for FORGIVENESS.
• I depend on GOD’S WORD as my Daily Bread.
Finally, I turn to God for true satisfaction, wrapping myself in the security of his Truth and Love. As I grow in true intimacy with Him, I embrace His sacred romance and move into the story He has authored just for me.
Books that Bless Me:
• “Why I Do What I Don’t Want to Do” (see Chapter 5, Lust & Self-Control)
• “Broken Gods: Hope, Healing, and the Seven Longings of the Human Heart” (see Chapter 10, Satisfying the Divine Longing for Communion)
I appreciate your vulnerability and sharing your redemption story with us. Freed people, free people!
The Son has set me free—and I am free indeed!
#ShareYourSacredStory
Love you, Sister!