Going through Romans took one and a half hours tonight - shorter than any of the previous books, but the content matter is so deep, I could easily spend many more hours reading and still find it engaging. Nevertheless, I do need to get to bed tonight, so I will stop at one read-through and try to organise my thoughts.
I also thought a bit about what I was going to entitle the post. Though I use the phrase 'new believers', this book is obviously rich material for new and old alike. However, the sense I get in reading the letter is that Paul is writing to believers to encourage them in the fundamentals of faith. They have had no direct apostolic ministry, hence his urgency to see them face to face, but in the meantime he writes this letter to teach them, encourage them, to show them both the foundation and the practical outworking of the gospel message they have received, and to warn them about false teaching and error.
Before I go on, I will respond to the 'Milking it' section in the intro post.
Nice idea to do the book in 45 tweets, good way to summarise, as it is essentially taking key verses as a summary. The 'questions asked' did a similar thing, focusing on slightly different verses, but you still get a sense of the book. Good resources to keep in mind for a refresher, or another Bible study. Not too useful today, as I am reading through the entire book anyway, but good to see other people considering the Word of God in this way.
The story by Max Lucado was very good. Engaging, and making very good points. I would hesitate to say it illustrates Romans 1-3 though. It is a parable, and parables illustrate simple points. It has illustrated one part of the teaching in Romans 1-3 (our response to God), but it cannot and does not illustrate the whole passage.
Good to see the history of a few people impacted by Romans. There are many more throughout history, an interesting study to be sure.
So, what themes come out of Romans? Most Christians, if asked, would first recall the famous passages on justification by faith alone, which was the crux of what the Reformation was fought over. Definitely, faith is a key theme in Romans! Mentioned 40 times throughout the book, it is one of the more common words. Righteous/righteousness occurs 47 times, however, and though the number of times a word occurs is not the only indicator, I did get a distinct sense that the writer was also focusing our attention upon the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is what condemns us as sinners. His righteousness is now manifest not only through the law, but now through faith, and it is by faith we enter into His righteousness. Having been released from the exacting standard of God's righteousness that we could not keep, through faith we are now justified as righteous, and we rejoice to live our lives according to God's righteousness - now empowered by His Spirit, though still subject to the influence of the flesh and sin. Faith is the means - righteousness is what it is all about.
At the beginning of the book, Paul basically introduces himself, establishing his credentials as an apostle by the grace of God (and thus having authority granted him by God to teach them) - remember, he has not met these believers, which he then acknowledges, expressing his longing to see them.
He immediately gets down to the point, he is responsible for preaching the gospel, and this is what he proceeds to do, introducing both the theme of righteousness and faith that will flow through the book.
We are first introduced to the perfection of God and His just intolerance of any unrighteousness. We see that all men everywhere have at least some revelation of God, through their conscience, Creation, and knowledge handed down. Everyone will be judged by the knowledge they rejected, whether you reject little or much.
Whether we reject Him by: following our own passions and ignoring His righteousness; becoming self-righteous and reducing His righteousness to a rule-set, judging others for their misdeeds but blind to our own sin of pride and self-righteousness; or seeking to get there under our own efforts, blind to the fact we cannot meet the righteous standard of God under our own efforts - indeed, we are going in the opposite direction, because we are rejecting His way of salvation by faith alone.
Paul then goes on to show that it was not the external law which came first in the history of God's people, but faith that then expressed itself in external signs also. It is not enough to have faith, though - our faith must be in the right object. in the Lord Jesus, Who was 'delivered for our trespasses, and raised for our justification'.
We then enter into this idea of wrestling with ourselves. Though justified in the eyes of God through faith, and released from sin's slavery, we still struggle with sin. The outworking of faith and the newness of the life we are entered into results in our striving against the influence of sin. We have died to sin through Christ's death, but we still wrestle with it, as if it has received a death-blow, but has not yet lost strength to fight us. We have now become slaves of God, and it is through obedience that we now live.
An interesting parallel is noticed in the next thought - we have died to the law. Now sin is bad, sounds good to die to sin! But the law is good, isn't it? So why have we died to the law? Paul fiercely argues against the idea that the law is bad - no, we died to the law, because the law required our death, and this was fulfilled in our death with Christ. Note that the law did not die! The law is still God's righteous standard, but we are free from its condemnation.
We proceed, returning to the thoughts of living according to the Spirit Who lives within us and empowers us - a life incompatible with living according to the flesh any more. It is not easy, there are still sufferings associated with this life on earth, but with the power of God on our side, the hope (hope of assurance, not a wish) of our eternal future, and the knowledge of the greatness of the love of God, we continue in joy.
We now return to the character of God. Having been introduced to Him as the Righteous One, we now see Him as Sovereign too. He is shown as choosing His people, choosing some to glorify Him by receiving His mercy, and some to glorify Him by receiving His wrath. It is His choice, and we have no place to argue with Him on how He chooses - He is far greater than us! Notice this message is immediately followed by a declaration that everyone who believes will be saved. His sovereignty is not an excuse for apathy, nor a shirking of our responsibility for rejecting Him. Nor can we be lazy, and refuse to preach, claiming that He has already decided who will believe, so what's the point? NO! How can they believe without being told - we have a responsibility to share this good news! Our hearts should burn to share the grace so freely given to us, and ache for those who have not received it, as did Paul's. We do have free will to choose, and we are responsible for those choices. He is Sovereign, and directs our purpose and paths. And He understands how those two work together better than I, but both must be embraced!
We see a balancing act between Jews and Gentiles, again. The Jews have special honour for their history, and that God chose them to be His people, and yet they rejected His Son, and are counted His enemies. We (Gentiles as a whole) are 'grafted in' but could be discarded again if we reject Him as they did. We were disobedient, we are no better than them, we both need mercy and grace from God, and trust in Him to work out His purposes.
In Chapter 12, we now switch to practical outworking of this foundation. Having covered the principles and laid out the reasons, Paul now applies this to the way we live. Wisdom and discernment (telling right from wrong), humility, working with others in respective roles, showing genuine love. Submitting to God first, and then worldly authorities. Not giving in to passions of lust, but loving our neighbour. Showing love and grace on matters where we disagree with others on the things not clearly specified in Scripture - and being willing to forgo our own enjoyment of freedoms to keep them from stumbling.
In all things, following the example of Christ, Who perfectly illustrated all these things.
Paul closes with a reminder of his intention to come to Rome, and speaks of various believers he knows that will be in contact with those in Rome. His loving recognition of his fellow-labourers illustrates some of the principles he has spoken of in his letter. He dedicates his letter to the glory of God.
Our Father, there has been so much covered in this excellent treatise, so much to learn about You and Your relationship to us. Lord, I pray that You might encourage our meditation on these matters, seeking to understand You more and more. Thank you for the acceptance You have granted us through Christ's justification. Thank you for granting us faith to believe, and that it is not dependent on our own efforts - they could never be enough. Lord, help us to live in obedience to You, refusing to listen to the temptations of the flesh, instead keeping our eyes fixed on You. Help us to love as You love, Lord. May we ever imitate You. We glorify You, our Righteous God!
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