Lessons #01 and 02

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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +

+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +

+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +

+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +

+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +

+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +

+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +

+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +

+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +

+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +

+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +

+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +

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Introduction to Romans

I know that some of you are expecting that after our study of 1 Corinthians that we will move right into the second epistle to the Corinthians as a natural progression of our study of the NT Scripture. However, as hard as it may sound to some of you to believe, I do not determine what book we study next. It is God the Holy Spirit that directs whatever book we study at the time He chooses. This being the case, prior to the ending of my study of 1 Corinthians, the Holy Spirit brought into my mind that the next book we should study is the epistle to the Romans and that is exactly what we will do.

The epistle to the Romans is said to be the most read epistle of Apostle Paul that has impacted the lives of some notable individuals in the history of the church of Christ. One of the notable individuals that have been impacted by this epistle was Augustine of Hippo in North Africa, born by a believing mother and unbelieving father. He became a professor of rhetoric at Milan, and he continued to live an immoral life. However, one day in the summer of A.D. 386 he picked up a scroll of a friend and read the words of Romans 13:13–14:

¹³ Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. ¹⁴ Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

This led to his conversion since he recognized that his immorality is incompatible with life in Christ. Several years later, when speaking of his conversion he wrote “No further did I desire to read, nor was there need. Indeed, immediately with the termination of this sentence, all the darknesses of doubt were dispersed, as if by a light of peace flooding into my heart.”¹

It is not only that the epistle to the Romans led in Augustine’s salvation, but it also enabled him to develop the doctrine of grace that was instrumental in the church’s rejection of what is known as “Pelagianism” that was a doctrine developed by a fourth century British monk, Pelagius. He rejected the idea of original sin. He taught that God directly created every human soul so that each soul is free from sin. To him, Adam’s sin did not affect his descendants, implying that man has the free choice to sin. This being the case, there is no need for divine grace. In effect, he denied the total depravity of humans instead taught that humans are basically good and so are capable of attaining salvation on their own by following the example of Jesus. His teaching became known as “Pelagianism.” This view, of course, contradicts several passages of the Scripture, especially the passages in the epistle to the Romans. For example, Apostle Paul taught clearly that humans inherited sin from Adam as we read in Romans 5:12:

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—

That aside, the church, a year after the death of Augustine, condemned Pelagianism in the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, relying, no doubt, on the teaching of grace by Augustine that he developed through his study of this epistle to the Romans.

The impact of the study of the epistle to the Romans was again evident, approximately eleven hundred years after the death of Augustine, in the life of Martin Luther. We are also informed this epistle was instrumental in the spiritual rebirth of the German monk, Martin Luther, and eventually the Protestant reformation when in 1515 he read the teaching of Apostle Paul on “the righteousness of God” and “justification by faith” in Romans 1:17:

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

It was as Luther, a professor of theology in the University of Wittenberg, was teaching his students this epistle to the Romans that he realized that God’s righteousness is not something we achieve by our own strenuous efforts, but something God gives in response to our faith in Christ Jesus. Thus, he developed the doctrine of “Justification by faith.”

Still, a third person that is often referenced as one of those impacted by this epistle is an English clergyman by the name of John Wesley. We are told that on May 24, 1738, he attended an evening service at Aldersgate Street in London. While there, he heard someone read aloud “Preface to the Epistle to the Romans.” It is likely that Wesley had heard the doctrine of justification by faith taught by Moravian Brethren but this time something happened to him that he wrote later (John Wesley, Works (1872), volume 1) “About a quarter before nine [that evening], while he [Martin Luther] was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, in Christ alone for my salvation: an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” Thus, from John Wesley’s statement we know that he was saved because of hearing truths expounded out of the epistle to the Romans.

We have mentioned three notable individuals that this epistle had impacted but there is no doubt many believers, unknown to us, who have also been impacted by reading this epistle to the Romans. The impact on both the well-known and not so known believers attests to the power of the word of God as the Holy Spirit works in the lives of people. This fact implies that we should do everything we can to make the word of God available to others. We should not be concerned about whether doing so impacts others or not. If the word of God is read or preached, it is God the Holy Spirit who works with God’s word to effect the change in a person. I recall someone not too long ago reminded me of the importance of declaring the word of God because of what it can do. This individual was saved during the early days of my ministry as a teenager. After several years later I met with this individual and he reminded me that it was when he heard me quote a passage in the gospel of John that the Holy Spirit worked on him and so he got convicted and so believed in Christ and was saved. The passage he heard me quote is John 3:18:

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

I had no idea that it was hearing this passage that led to the salvation of the individual that reminded me of his salvation because of my quoting this passage. The point I am making is that it is necessary for us to read aloud or quote the Scripture to people. We should not be concerned with people’s rejection of it, nor should we be concerned with answering those who question the authority of the Scripture. Our concerns should be with ensuring that the word of God is available to people so they can read it, or we can read it aloud to them. We could go on at this point to discuss this matter of the impact of the word of God in detail but that we will not since that will be dealt with in a fuller detail at the appropriate time in this epistle that we are about to study. Nonetheless, our concern is simply to cause each of us to recognize that there is power in the word of God to bring about transformation of individuals who hear or read it. Thus, it is not surprising that the word of God is compared to a sword with double edges in Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

All the same, we have noted the impact of reading or hearing commentary about this epistle in the lives of those we cited, so it is my desire or prayer to the Lord that our study of this epistle will impact your life. I mean, on the one hand, if you are an unbeliever that attends this local church regularly, that our study of this epistle should lead you to experience salvation. On the other hand, if you are a believer, that the study of this epistle should invigorate you spiritually. If you have been waning in your zeal that you will wake up and be zealous for the Lord Jesus Christ and for the gospel. Furthermore, that if you have been sloppy in living as a Christian that the study, we are about to embark, should cause you to be more devoted to the Lord in that you are more mindful of living a life in the Spirit, that is, where the Holy Spirit controls you than your sinful nature. That, my friends, is my goal in our study of this epistle that has had such profound impacts on believers of the past and is continuing to impact many believers at the present. Thus, your goal as you take the journey with me through this epistle should be precisely that you are more excited about your life in Christ than any other thing of this life. You should be so captivated with the truths espoused in this epistle than any other thing around you or anything that attempts to distract you from being totally devoted to your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. With this encouragement, let me begin with a summary of this epistle before we begin its detailed analysis.

It is important for us to recognize that although our summary of this epistle will consist of the outline for the study of the book, it is unlikely that the apostle sat down to do what human authors do when they want to write a book. By this, we mean that once a human author decides to write on a subject the individual pens down the outline of what the individual would explore in the book. The apostle’s approach is more in keeping with personal letter writing. A person who wants to write a letter has in mind a major reason for the letter but as the person begins to write other thoughts or ideas flood the mind. This would have been the sense with the apostle. In effect, the apostle would have had in mind something that he wanted to write to the Romans that the Holy Spirit initially put in his mind but as he began to write, the Holy Spirit flooded his mind with other things that he should write down as he progressed with this epistle. I am saying that as the apostle began to write, the Holy Spirit continuously moved his thought from one subject to another as it relates to the major issue, He wanted the apostle to communicate to the church in Rome and so to the universal church of Christ. Bear in mind the apostle utilized an amanuensis to write the epistle we are about to study. This means the apostle would not have laid out an outline from which he dictates what he wants to convey to the church in Rome. Instead, it is as the Holy Spirit directed him that he dictated to his amanuensis what to write. The dictation of the apostle was different from that of Prophet Jeremiah when he used Baruch to write down the word of God. We say this because the apostle in this epistle or in any epistle did not convey that he was instructed to write down what God spoke to him from the time he was saved as in the case of Jeremiah where God instructed him to write down everything, He had communicated to him beginning from the reign of Josiah till the time of writing down the contents of the book as we read in Jeremiah 36:2–4:

² “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. ³ Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.” ⁴ So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the LORD had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.

The situation with Apostle Paul was that the Holy Spirit moved him to write and as he dictated to his amanuensis, the Holy Spirit gave him the words that he needed to write to the Romans that he passed on to his amanuensis. My point is that the apostle did not have an outline of the epistle as he wrote the epistle but that the Holy Spirit directed his thought to write everything we have in this epistle. In other words, we are saying that the epistle is inspired by God the Holy Spirit.

Be that as it may, the epistle begins with a lengthy introduction that is given in Romans 1:1-17 that consists of three sub sections. The first subsection consists of salutation that covers verses 1 to 7. The salutation of this epistle is different from other epistles of Apostle Paul in that after he identified himself as the author he went into a brief discussion about the Gospel of God. He right away indicated that the gospel of God was prophesied in the OT Scripture and certainly that it is about the Son of God who is the agent of all of spiritual blessings. It is after this consideration of gospel that the apostle then identified the recipients of this epistle. The identification of the recipients of the epistle is followed by the second subsection that is concerned with the apostle’s desire to visit Rome that he described in verses 8 to 15. In this subsection, the apostle mentioned his prayer on behalf of the Romans in verses 8 to 10, his desire to see the Romans for mutual spiritual benefits in verses 11 to 13, and his eagerness to preach the gospel at Rome given in verses 14 and 15. Once the apostle mentioned his eagerness to preach the gospel at Rome, he was immediately carried by the Holy Spirit into the third subsection of the introduction that is concerned with the most important topic that is on this planet which is the gospel message. Consequently, the third subsection is concerned with the theme of this epistle which is that “the gospel reveals God’s righteousness” as the apostle discoursed in verses 16-17. Thus, we read in Romans 1:17

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Having introduced the theme of this epistle, the apostle proceeded to develop this theme through the rest of the epistle.

The first thing the apostle discoursed, after introducing the theme of God’s righteousness revealed through the gospel, is God’s response to unrighteousness that he discoursed in Romans 1:18-3:20. There are four major issues the apostle developed under God’s response to unrighteousness. First, he discoursed God’s wrath and punishment against idolatry in Romans 1:18-32. Idolatry is an affront to the person of God so it should not be surprising that the apostle discussed first God’s displeasure and punishment on people because of unrighteousness that is evident in idolatry. Second, the apostle communicated to his readers that God’s judgment is independent of the Law in Romans 2:1-16. The mention of the Law implies that some of the recipients of this epistle were of Jewish descent. Third, because of the apostle’s reference to the law, he explained the true Jew in Romans 2:17-3:4. This explanation of the true Jew implies that a true Jew keeps the law as he discoursed in Romans 2:17-24. A true Jew is defined by true circumcision as he discoursed in Romans 2:25-29. To be sure that his readers should not think he was downplaying being a Jew or that he was bashing the Jews as some falsely accused him, the apostle discoursed the advantage of being a Jew in Romans 3:1-4. The advantage of the Jews is that they were the recipients of our Scripture, and they also were beneficiaries of God’s faithfulness. Fourth, after discoursing on the Jews, the apostle returned to God’s judgment on humanity’s sinfulness in Romans 3:5-20. Of course, he first established that God’s judgment on people’s sinfulness confirms His righteous character before he proceeded to discourse on humanity’s sinfulness. God’s judgment on sin and the sinfulness of humanity lead naturally to the question of how to escape God’s judgment that would be possible if one meets His righteous demands. This leads to the next thing the apostle discoursed regarding the theme of God’s righteousness that is revealed through the gospel message.

The second thing the apostle discoursed as it relates to his theme of the righteousness of God that is revealed through the gospel message concerns how a person could appropriate God’s righteousness. Human’s sinfulness means the inability to meet God’s standard. We are saying that because of our sinfulness or our sinful nature, it is impossible to meet God’s righteous demands or to measure up to His righteousness. You see, there are people who are trying through their human efforts to measure up to God’s righteousness despite the fact that the sinful nature corrupts whatever humans put forth as righteousness. The Holy Spirit through Prophet Isaiah clearly declared that at our best, we could not do anything that pleases God as recorded for us in Isaiah 64:6:

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

I think that most of our English versions translated the Hebrew text to avoid offending people thereby minimizing the shock value of this verse. It does not matter whether the phrase filthy rags of the NIV is translated “polluted garments/rags” or “filthy garment” the result is the same. God the Holy Spirit intended for the prophet to shock his hearers when he used the Hebrew phrase that our English versions rendered “filthy rags” or “polluted garments.” A handful of our English versions, such as the NET and the LEB, correctly reflected the Hebrew phrase in their translation of menstrual rag that refers to a rag stained by menstrual blood that is quite offensive both in the ancient world and today. So, if the best we humans can do before God is compared to something that offensive, the implication is that we have no leg to stand before God as it pertains to meeting His righteous demands. Of course, in the context of Isaiah, the prophet meant to convey that Israel could not through any good they do restore their relationship with God. So, the point is that human goodness cannot meet God’s righteousness as to have a relationship with Him. However, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul tells us not to lose hope because God’s righteousness could be obtained. Therefore, the next thing the apostle wrote in this epistle concerns how to appropriate God’s righteousness by faith as he discoursed in Romans 3:21-4:25. The apostle made the point that righteousness through faith has been revealed as he discoursed in Romans 3:21-31. This, he followed by a discourse on Abraham as an example of faith righteousness or someone who obtained God’s righteousness by faith and so he is considered the father of all those who attain righteousness by faith as the apostle developed in Romans 4:1-25. He first indicated that Abraham’s faith was credited to him for righteousness in Romans 4:1-3. The apostle then argued in Romans 4:4-8 that faith and not work is what is credited to anyone as righteousness. In keeping with Abraham being an example of one who obtained righteousness by faith, the apostle described him in Romans 4:9-12 as the father of all who believe. This he followed in verse 13 and 14 by stating the limitation of the Law as it pertains God’s promise of heirship. He rounds up his discourse on the way of appropriating God’s righteousness with the point that faith secures God’s promise for all believers as he penned in Romans 4:15-25.

Why is it necessary for anyone to appropriate God’s righteousness? The obvious answer is to ensure that one does not come under His judgment. This answer may be too general, so the third thing the apostle discoursed as part of his development of the theme of righteousness of God that is revealed through the gospel concerns the various results of appropriating God’s righteousness that he discoursed in Romans 5:1 to 6:23. There are eight related results the apostle gave. The first is peace that is through Jesus Christ or three blessings of justification described in Romans 5:1-5. The second is deliverance from God’s wrath given in Romans 5:6-9. The third is reconciliation as he discoursed in Romans 5:10-11. The fourth is nullification of the effects of Adam’s sins as described in Romans 5:12-20. The fifth is termination of slavery to sin as he developed in Romans 6:1-7. The sixth is life with God, discoursed in Romans 6:8-11. The seventh is victory over sin described in Romans 6:12-14. Victory over sin as it relates to believer’s experience is not something permanent but something that is ongoing. In effect, that you are saved does not mean that you have attained a permanent victory over sin experientially. Thus, the apostle implies that there is no such thing as being free in life. We are at all times either slaves to sin in that we are defeated by sin, or we are slaves to righteousness. Consequently, the eighth result of appropriating God’s righteousness is freedom from sin but slave to righteousness as the apostle discoursed in Romans 6:15-23. This brought the apostle to the next thing he discoursed under the theme of the revelation of God’s righteousness through the gospel.

The fourth thing Apostle Paul discoursed as it relates to his theme of the righteousness of God revealed through the gospel is the attestation to God’s righteousness treated in Romans 7:1-8:25. He did this by focusing first on the Law and Sin. In this first focus, the apostle dealt with freedom from law due to death described in Romans 7:1-7. He considered the point that knowledge of sin comes through the law in Romans 7:8-12. That knowledge of sin comes through the law may imply that something is wrong with the law so to ensure there is no misunderstanding of the nature of the law, the apostle declared that the Law is good and spiritual as he developed in Romans 7:13-16. Furthermore, he accounted for any difficulty someone may have with the fact that law is good as the person struggles to do what is good by explaining the principle of sin and the war within us in Romans 7:17-23. Since humans are helpless in dealing with the internal war raging on between us, the apostle deals with the fact that it is only through Jesus Christ that one can be rescued from the condemnation due to failure to obey the Law as he discoursed in Romans 7:24-25. He ends his exposition of Law and Sin by indicating that the Incarnation has resulted in what the law could not do as he discoursed in Romans 8:1-8. Moving from his focus on the Law and Sin, the apostle next focused on life in the Spirit as his major concern in Romans 8:9-25. This he handled by first stating the importance of the Spirit of God in Romans 8:9-11. This is followed by a discourse on the superiority of living by the Spirit of God in Romans 8:12-17. Then he concludes his discourse on life in the Spirit by showing in Romans 8:18-25 the incomparability of present suffering to future glory. With this the apostle proceeded to the fifth thing he expounded regarding God’s righteousness.

The fifth thing the apostle discoursed as it relates to his theme of the righteousness of God revealed through the gospel is how God’s plan reveals His righteousness as he argued in Romans 8:26-11:36. The plan that reveals God’s righteousness is concerned first with believers as the apostle discoursed in Romans 8:26-31. There are four ways the apostle detailed this plan of God as it pertains believers. First, he considered the Spirit’s intercession for believers in Romans 8:26-27. Second, he discoursed on the working of God’s plan for believers’ good in Romans 8:28-30. Third, in Romans 8:31-34, he asserted that no charges could be brought against God’s elect. Fourth, the apostle conveyed that God’s plan for believers includes not being separated from Christ’s love, as he considered in Romans 8:35-39. Following this consideration, the apostle indicated that God’s plan that reveals His righteousness involves Israel as he described in Romans 9:1-11:36.

The discourse of the apostle about God’s plan for Israel that reveal His righteousness is the longest subject in this epistle as he covered several arguments. He began with his concern for Israel, his people, according to his natural birth, in Romans 9:1-5. He argued that not all who are naturally Israel are the true Israel of God as he discoursed in Romans 9:6-13. The fact that not all who are naturally Israel are true Israel of God may raise a question in the mind of the readers about God’s righteousness and so the apostle argued that God is not unjust but keeps His plan as he developed in Romans 9:14-18. It is possible that someone may still not be satisfied with the apostle’s argument, so he asserted that God has the right to display wrath or mercy on people as he developed in Romans 9:19-29. That God has the right to do what He pleases, so to speak, does not mean that He would change how people would obtain His righteousness. To support this point, the apostle asserted that the Gentiles obtained God’s righteousness but not Israel as he discoursed in Romans 9:30-33. You see, Israel is a special and privileged people of God because of election so the question that the reader would have on reading that the people who were privileged did not obtain God’s righteousness is why it was the case. Consequently, the apostle indicates that it is because Israel wrongly sought God’s righteousness as he discoursed in Romans 10:1-4. The wrong approach of Israel to obtaining God’s righteousness is that they did not follow the example of Abraham who obtained it by faith. Instead, they were relying on observance of the Law that was not meant to bring about God’s righteousness that is revealed through the gospel. To indicate that Israel’s failure to obtain God’s righteousness is because they did not seek it by way of faith, the apostle contrasted law righteousness and faith righteousness in his discourse in Romans 10:5-13. Of course, unless a person hears the message that God’s righteousness is through faith in Jesus Christ that individual would not obtain it. This fact is evident in the world we live in today. There are many who are trying to establish their own righteousness before God, something that is impossible to do. They do this because they have been indoctrinated through various religions that a way to be in good standing with God is to do good works. People who follow this message realize that it is impossible to perfectly do what God would require of them and so they are frustrated and lose hope. This means that the message one hears is important as it relates to God’s righteousness. The apostle had indicated that this righteousness is revealed through the gospel message. Therefore, if anyone is going to obtain God’s righteousness, the individual must hear the message of how that is to be obtained. It is for this reason that the apostle discoursed on the necessity of preaching so a person would have faith in Christ as he described in Romans 10:14-21.

The apostle had indicated that Israel had not obtained God’s righteousness because they sought it wrongly. This may create the impression that God’s plan for Israel failed. The Scripture is clear that God’s plan cannot be thwarted as stated in Job 42:2:

“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.

Since it is the Holy Spirit who was guiding the apostle as he wrote the epistle we are summarizing, He directed the apostle to deal with the issue of Israel’s failure to obtain God’s righteousness. This, the apostle dealt with by focusing on three important arguments. The first is concerned with the existence of a remnant in Israel that consists of those who were chosen by the grace of God. It is this argument that the apostle considered in Romans 11:1-6. This remnant certainly consists of those who have received God’s righteousness by faith. This being the case, such remnant attest to the fact that God’s plan regarding Israel did not fail. The second argument of the apostle is that the elect of God obtained what Israel was searching for as he discoursed in Romans 11:7-10. Although the focus is on the elect of Israel but the truth the apostle argued is applicable to every elect of God, Jew, or Gentile. In other words, every elect of God attains God’s righteousness revealed through the gospel message. The third argument of the apostle concerns the temporary rejection of Israel as he discoursed in Romans 11:11-32. His discourse of this argument involved six points the apostle made that in effect show God’s wisdom as He works out His plan. The first point of the apostle is that it is Israel’s stumbling that led to the salvation of the Gentiles as he described in Romans 11:11-12. This point implies that the stumbling of Israel was indeed in God’s plan since such stumbling would lead to God’s righteousness being revealed to the Gentiles through the gospel. In effect, the Gentiles who were not in a special relationship with God would be part of God’s people because of Israel’s stumbling. The second point of the apostle concerns then the significance of rejection and eventually acceptance of Israel as the apostle discoursed in Romans 11:13-16. This point signaled that God’s plan for Israel had not failed since as the apostle later indicated Israel would eventually be saved. Anyway, the Gentiles, as it stands now, are those who are the focus as God’s people. They are part of the overall group known as God’s people. The implication is that Gentiles were brought in as it were of a branch of a tree that is grafted into another tree. Thus, since Gentiles although at the present are the major players in God’s plan as it involves receiving of His righteousness by faith, they are still those who have been grafted into the main tree that is Israel. Hence, it is important that the Gentiles are mindful of this. This truth led to the apostle’s third point, which is that it is improper for a grafted branch to boast against the main tree. This point is developed in Romans 11:17-19. It may be that Gentiles who are believers may not understand this point, so the apostle presented it in another way that is given in the fourth point which is as a warning to the Gentiles. It is this warning that is issued more directly in what the apostle wrote in Romans 11:20-22. To help Gentiles to recognize that it would be foolish on their part to boast against Israel, the apostle made the fifth point that if understood should cause Gentiles to live in trepidation of God as He works out His plan for humanity. The fifth point concerns the imagery of a broken branch being grafted back to the main tree as the apostle developed in Romans 11:23-24. The fact that the broken branch would be grafted back to the main tree signifies the unique position of Israel with God. This truth led to the final point the apostle made as it pertains God’s plan for Israel. The final and sixth point concerns the salvation of all Israel at a future time as the apostle discoursed in Romans 11:25-32. As the apostle pondered on how God works out His plan both for Israel and Gentiles, he was carried away by God’s wisdom and power displayed in His plan. Thus, the apostle burst into praise of God for who He is and for what He does. It is this praise that ends His major focus on the fact that God’s plan reveals His righteousness. This praise is described in Romans 11:33-36.

The apostle in the first eleven chapters of this epistle had stated the theme of the epistle as concerned with revelation of God’s righteousness through the gospel. He then proceeded to develop the doctrines that are necessary to understand the theme. He explained how to obtain God’s righteousness through faith in Christ. He assured those who have exercised faith in Christ that they are the recipients of everything that result from obtaining God’s righteousness, such as peace and victory over sin. However, the apostle as he was guided by the Holy Spirit recognized that doctrine is not an end in and of itself, something that we need to be constantly reminded of. I mean that we should recognize that it is commendable for us to devote our time to the study of God’s word as most of you do by attending this local church both on Sundays and Wednesdays to receive the teaching of God’s word and spending time either going over your notes and relistening to the teaching online. As commendable as that is, it is not the end of such an endeavor. The goal of learning doctrine is to glorify God. To glorify God means to do what He instructs as the Lord Jesus communicated in His priestly prayer as we read in John 17:4:

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

The Lord Jesus indicated that the way He brought glory to the Father is by doing what He commissioned Him to do. Thus, we should be certain that if we are to glorify God that we must do what He instructs us in His word. The point we are stressing is that learning of doctrine is not in and of itself an end but a means to an end which is to glorify God. This requires that we live out the doctrines we learn. It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit through James encouraged us to be those who do what we learn as stated in James 1:22:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

The point we are stressing is one that no doubt the Holy Spirit brought to the apostle’s mind that after he finished marshalling out the doctrine of the righteousness of God that is obtained through faith in Jesus Christ, proceeded to apply the doctrine to the recipients of this epistle.

Be that as it may, as we have indicated, the apostle having espoused the various doctrines that are derived from the major theme of God’s righteousness revealed through the gospel, proceed to lay out the expectation of the manifestation of righteousness in the believers. In effect, the apostle had indicated that believers have God’s righteousness by faith in Christ. God knows this and the people should also know it because of the doctrines the apostle had expounded but it is important that the believer proves to the world the reality of what the individual has received by faith in Christ. Consequently, the next major concern of the apostle is the expectation of manifestation of righteousness in believers that he laid out in Romans 12:1-15:7.

The expectation of the manifestation of righteousness in the believers is given as involving twelve things. The first is a life that is dedicated to God that the apostle stated in Romans 12:1-3. In effect, if one is a recipient of God’s righteousness by faith, such an individual should show that by a life that is devoted to serving God, so to say. The second manifestation of righteousness is proper exercise of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ as the apostle described in Romans 12:4-8. You see, God in His grace has given believers different spiritual gifts, but these gifts should be exercised in such a way that reflects righteousness of God. For example, if a person exercises a spiritual gift of help with a wrong attitude, such an individual would not reflect God’s righteousness as whatever help the individual renders to another will be tinted with sin. The third manifestation of righteousness is the demonstration of genuine love as the apostle discoursed in Romans 12:9-13. Love that is important in believer’s interaction with others must be that love that is produced by the Holy Spirit and so one that is devoid of pretense. Love as we have defined in the past is a thought-action phenomena that involves a subject and an object whereby the object is benefited. The action part is why it is necessary for love to be genuine. A person could do a nice thing for another with an impure motive and the recipient may think that the action is an act of love when there is an impure motive involved. Anyway, as the apostle developed in this epistle, it is important that love be genuine. The fourth manifestation of righteousness is the demonstration of the possession of right attitude towards others as the apostle espoused in Romans 12:14-16. The right attitude involves not being arrogant about a person’s position in life and so when a person has an attitude that is not governed by arrogance the individual will treat others fairly and not in accordance with what they have done to the individual. It is not surprising that the fifth manifestation of righteousness is related to possession of right attitude. The fifth manifestation of righteousness is avoidance of vengeance. It is this that the apostle dealt with in Romans 12:17-21. The world of humanity that is unregenerated is characterized by being vengeful and fighting fire with fire. Such is contrary to God’s righteousness. A believer who lives righteously will learn to turn over to the Lord any perceived injustice or mistreatment. You see, you could not possibly avenge yourself as God can on your behalf. So, the Holy Spirit through the apostle emphasized to believers that righteousness involves not being vengeful. The sixth manifestation of righteousness in the believer is obedience to ruling authorities. It is this manifestation that the apostle dealt with in Romans 13:1-7. This manifestation of righteousness is quite interesting especially since the original recipients of this epistle were living under the Roman government that was hostile to the Christian faith. Believers were persecuted so that naturally you would expect the Holy Spirit to say to believers to resist governmental authority but that was not the case. Believers are instructed that obeying ruling authorities reflects God’s righteousness. This is in part because God is the source of any duly constituted authority. This manifestation of righteousness is not being emphasized among believers today; instead, what we hear is that people should rebel against the ruling authorities, such demand is contrary to God’s righteousness as will be evident when we examine what the apostle wrote in detail. The seventh manifestation of righteousness is described as love that is certainly related to the third one. However, the apostle in the seventh manifestation is concerned with describing love in a general sense and in its relationship to the Law. It is this relationship that the apostle described in Romans 13:8-10. The eighth manifestation of righteousness concerns proper understanding of the time in which we live in terms of properly recognizing how sin is doing havoc on people and so such understanding will lead the believer to avoid anything that will lead to sin. It is this eighth manifestation of sin that the apostle considered in Romans 13:11-14. The ninth manifestation of righteousness involves not judging fellow believers because of their spiritual immaturity. This manifestation of righteousness is the concern of Romans 14:1-12. The apostle developed three reasons a believer should not be involved in judging others. His first reason is that God accepted other believers as He did the one who judges others as he discoursed in Romans 14:1-4. The second reason is that other believers belong to the Lord as the one who judges you, as the apostle described in Romans 14:5-9. His third reason is that all believers will stand before God’s judgment seat as he stated in Romans 14:10-12. The tenth manifestation of righteousness involves avoidance of being a stumbling block for other believers as the apostle discoursed in Romans 14:13-18. The eleventh manifestation of righteousness is the pursuit of peace and edification of others as the apostle considered in Romans 14:19-23. The twelfth manifestation of righteousness is acceptance of others as Jesus Christ accepted us. This the apostle treated in Roman 15:1-13. Following these manifestations of righteousness the apostle came to the concluding part of his epistle.

The concluding part of the epistle to Romans given in Romans 15:14-16:24 consists of two general matters. The first concerns the apostle himself as described in Romans 15:14-33. The apostle wrote of his ministry to Gentiles in Romans 15:14-21. This we can understand since Apostle Paul recognized that he is the apostle to the Gentiles as he stated severally in his epistles. Take for example, what he wrote in Galatians 2:8:

For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles.

It is not only that the apostle wrote in the concluding part about his ministry to Gentiles, but he in effect also disclosed his plan to continue to minister among the Gentiles in that He communicated to the Romans his travel plans as he described in Romans 15:22-33 that will include a planned visit to believers in Rome.

The second thing in the general matters the apostle wrote in concluding this epistle is what we describe as “other matters” that are described in Romans 16:1-24. There are four things that constitute these other matters. The first concerns the usual personal greetings to others at the end of his epistles that are described in Romans 16:1-16. The subject of greetings was interrupted by a final exhortation the apostle gave in Romans 16:17-20. This final exhortation concerns those believers are to avoid because of what association with such individuals will do to them. It is after the apostle had instructed believers about those they are to avoid, that he returned to the matter of greetings from him, and his associates as given in Romans 16:21-23. Finally, the apostle ended his epistle with a benediction given in Romans 16:24.

We have given a summary of the epistle so that we know what we are to expect as we go through the journey of expounding this epistle to the Romans. As is usually our practice of gradually going through a book, we are now ready to begin that journey as the Lord directs. I mean if it is God’s will for me to finish the study of this book with you, we will do so according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. So, get ready for the long journey of several years through this book. This journey we will begin in our next study.

04/05/24