Romans 1:1-32
I feel the need to begin this portion of our journey with and admission that I am a little nervous about working through the Epistles at the same pace as we have done the Gospels and Acts. From my past experience I know that these chapters are so rich with content that I will have a hard time moving a chapter at a time. However, I really want to try to stay with this pace so please be aware that we are skimming over these rich texts and not really digging into them. Romans is, perhaps, the richest of all the Epistles, and promises to be a leg on our journey that will probe our hearts. With that said, lets get started.
The book of Romans begins with condemnation of sin. It is a reality that plagues each of our souls and should cause us to depend fully upon the grace of God in Christ. After Paul's greeting in the first several verses, he dives right in to what I call the condemnation of the Pagan.
A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: Paul begins this glorious book recounting his relationship with God and reminding his readers of their relationship with God. It is a relationship that is brought about by the power of Christ as revealed on the cross and in the resurrection that is made available to us because of God's amazing grace. The result of this relationship is peace with God as well as the privilege of serving God. It is out of this desire to serve God that Paul longs to visit Rome in order to minister to the believers there. However, up until this point he has not been able to do so. I am thankful for that fact, because I believe that if Paul had been able to visit Rome prior to this letter, He would not have written such a full and complete doctrine because he would have already taught them these truths in person. We would have been the looses. Paul was, as we should be, ever thankful for the honor of knowing and serving God and never lost his amazement over being rightly related to God through Christ.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD: This, we might say is the theme of this book. God's righteousness is on full display here. He is perfectly holy and just and must eternally remain that way. Because of this truth, He must deal with sin and sinners in a just manner. The righteousness of God demands it. Man, because of God's righteousness is under the condemnation of God. It can be no other way. However, God, in His great grace and wonderful wisdom has made a way for His righteousness to be made available to sinful men through faith in the finished work of Christ. Faith in Christ transfers our sin to the cross and transfer His righteousness to our account. Our sins were condemned in Christ which satisfied the justice of God and Christ's righteousness is credited to believers that they might stand in the presence of God covered in the righteousness of Christ. This is the Gospel of justification by faith that Paul will spend the next eight chapters defining and defending.
THE REVELATION OF GOD: Paul begins by showing why those who have never heard the Gospel are justly condemned by God. The reason is that the attributes of God have been revealed to man in two different ways. The first way is through the creation. The power and glory of God is clearly reveled to man through the majesty of God's creation. The more man delves into and observes the natural world, the more he ought to stand in awe and worship the God who created all of these wonderful things. The second way is through the conscience that God has placed in the heart of every man. There is a certain moral standard that God has written of the hearts of all men. God has stamped His own image on man's heart and by virtue of our conscience we naturally worship. God created us as worshipers, it is who we are as much as it is what we do. We were created to worship God, but because of sin we often worship other things and persons an usually ourselves. That fact reveals that we are conscience of and, in some ways, all men long for God. Creation and conscience are the ways in which God has revealed Himself to all men. We usually call this general revelation.
THE REJECTION OF GOD: As gracious as God has been to reveal Himself to man through creation and conscience, man has chosen to reject God's revelation. This rejection of God is demonstrated by man's failure to honor worship and be thankful to God. Rather, man has turned from the creator to worship the creation. Men make gods with their own hands or worship the things found in nature instead of seeking to know, love and please the creator. This initial rejection of God leads man in a downward spiral of sin in which he begins to practice every form of sin imaginable to man. In the process they end up hating God, hurting others and destroying themselves. Man without Christ sinks deeper and deeper into sin as he strives in vain to remove the image of God that is imprinted on the conscience of his heart. Man's worship degenerates into ludicrous practices that only further contribute to his destruction. Such was the state of every single one of us apart from Christ. Oh the depths of depravity to which man's souls sink when he rejects the revelation of God.
The book of Romans begins with condemnation of sin. It is a reality that plagues each of our souls and should cause us to depend fully upon the grace of God in Christ. After Paul's greeting in the first several verses, he dives right in to what I call the condemnation of the Pagan.
A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: Paul begins this glorious book recounting his relationship with God and reminding his readers of their relationship with God. It is a relationship that is brought about by the power of Christ as revealed on the cross and in the resurrection that is made available to us because of God's amazing grace. The result of this relationship is peace with God as well as the privilege of serving God. It is out of this desire to serve God that Paul longs to visit Rome in order to minister to the believers there. However, up until this point he has not been able to do so. I am thankful for that fact, because I believe that if Paul had been able to visit Rome prior to this letter, He would not have written such a full and complete doctrine because he would have already taught them these truths in person. We would have been the looses. Paul was, as we should be, ever thankful for the honor of knowing and serving God and never lost his amazement over being rightly related to God through Christ.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD: This, we might say is the theme of this book. God's righteousness is on full display here. He is perfectly holy and just and must eternally remain that way. Because of this truth, He must deal with sin and sinners in a just manner. The righteousness of God demands it. Man, because of God's righteousness is under the condemnation of God. It can be no other way. However, God, in His great grace and wonderful wisdom has made a way for His righteousness to be made available to sinful men through faith in the finished work of Christ. Faith in Christ transfers our sin to the cross and transfer His righteousness to our account. Our sins were condemned in Christ which satisfied the justice of God and Christ's righteousness is credited to believers that they might stand in the presence of God covered in the righteousness of Christ. This is the Gospel of justification by faith that Paul will spend the next eight chapters defining and defending.
THE REVELATION OF GOD: Paul begins by showing why those who have never heard the Gospel are justly condemned by God. The reason is that the attributes of God have been revealed to man in two different ways. The first way is through the creation. The power and glory of God is clearly reveled to man through the majesty of God's creation. The more man delves into and observes the natural world, the more he ought to stand in awe and worship the God who created all of these wonderful things. The second way is through the conscience that God has placed in the heart of every man. There is a certain moral standard that God has written of the hearts of all men. God has stamped His own image on man's heart and by virtue of our conscience we naturally worship. God created us as worshipers, it is who we are as much as it is what we do. We were created to worship God, but because of sin we often worship other things and persons an usually ourselves. That fact reveals that we are conscience of and, in some ways, all men long for God. Creation and conscience are the ways in which God has revealed Himself to all men. We usually call this general revelation.
THE REJECTION OF GOD: As gracious as God has been to reveal Himself to man through creation and conscience, man has chosen to reject God's revelation. This rejection of God is demonstrated by man's failure to honor worship and be thankful to God. Rather, man has turned from the creator to worship the creation. Men make gods with their own hands or worship the things found in nature instead of seeking to know, love and please the creator. This initial rejection of God leads man in a downward spiral of sin in which he begins to practice every form of sin imaginable to man. In the process they end up hating God, hurting others and destroying themselves. Man without Christ sinks deeper and deeper into sin as he strives in vain to remove the image of God that is imprinted on the conscience of his heart. Man's worship degenerates into ludicrous practices that only further contribute to his destruction. Such was the state of every single one of us apart from Christ. Oh the depths of depravity to which man's souls sink when he rejects the revelation of God.
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