The book of Romans was written by the Apostle Paul in or about the year A.D. 57.
The Apostle Paul before coming to faith in Christ was driven to seek out those who called themselves Christians in order to bring them to trial.
Christianity at that time was against the law. At times the Christians that he sought out did not even make it back to be tried. Rather they had their lives taken from them by some means. One of those means was stoning. Stoning if you are not familiar with this term is when you are surrounded by a group of people who then impale you with large rocks until you die. Paul was personally responsible for the death of many Christians.
If you haven’t figured it out by this point Christians at this time did not have it very easy.
So what changed Paul? What possibly could change a person from being at one point in his life so hateful to one group of people, to then living his life without any fear for his own life in order to help those same people?
Paul found faith. He found faith.
Paul’s conversion to Christianity started for him one day on the road to a city called Damascus. Paul’s birth name Saul translated in Greek then becomes Paul. Saul was going to do what he did best. Find Christians.
As Saul was traveling on the road to Damascus with some other men (Acts 9:3-4), Jesus came to Saul and confronted him and said “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Jesus then blinded Saul and sent him on to Damascus in search of a man named Ananias.
Now Jesus came to Ananias in a vision (Acts 9:10) and told him about Saul coming to Damascus. Well Ananias heard the stories about Saul and was fearful. But then Jesus told Ananias to go to him, for he is a vessel of Mine.
Expound
So Ananias went to Saul and laying hands on him and said (Acts 9:17) “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Then (Acts 9:18) his sight was restored and he arose and was baptized.
From that point on Saul was given a new heart. A heart that was filled with love and devotion to preaching that Christ is the Son of God (Acts 9:20).
Nothing could keep Paul from preaching Christ. In (2 Corinthians 11:24-26) Paul talks about some hardships that he has had being a Christian. He said, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.”
Paul even after all of this torment and hardship, never failed to have faith in Christ and never for once thought to himself that it was time to give up or that what he was doing wasn’t worth the effort. Christ is always worth the effort. He is worth the effort because to Him we where and still are worth the effort that he puts forth for us. Then again, if our relationship with him is proper then it really shouldn’t be an effort at all. It should be our desire.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he makes one point very clear: Before we come to faith in Christ and His sacrifice, we are dead in our sins. We are spiritual corpses. Our bodies might be carrying on, but our spirits have no life in them. We do not function in a way that God intended us to. We should be filled with love, joy and kindness, but in many cases we aren’t.
But when we accept Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, and put our faith in His goodness rather than in anything of our own, we become alive. The Holy Spirit breathes His life into us, and our spirit becomes alive, and from that point on, the love of God shines on us for all eternity. And we in return shine that light on others. Others will see this change in us. And seeing this, the hope is that others will seek what it is that God has given us.
So who are these Roman Christians?
It is thought that the church in Rome may have been started by a group of Jewish converts. As the church started to grow in numbers, more and more non-Jews or gentiles started coming to this church. This church had been there for many years before its first formal letter of instruction by any Apostle. They pretty much were just winging it. And they were doing a pretty good job at it at the time.
So why did Paul write this letter to the Christians in Rome?
He gives us the reason almost right in the beginning of the letter. (Romans 1:16) “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
He wanted the church in Rome to be strong in the gospel. Not to be ashamed of it. Not to hide it but to put it out in front of themselves and live it. Live it because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
Then in (Romans 1:17) Paul stated “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed.”
The gospel is the power of God, for righteousness and for salvation for everyone who believes.
What Paul is trying to tell them and us in this letter is that the gospel message holds in it they key to our salvation. That is why they call the gospel the good news. This good news can be found right here in this Bible. The good news is Christ and what He has done for us. The good news is if you believe it and have faith in it then Christ has prepared a home for you in heaven.
In John chapter 3 verse 16, the Bible tells us - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Expound on belief
Remember what we believe determines how we behave, and both determine what we become. If we believe the truth, the truth will sanctify us and set us free. If we believe lies, we will gradually become a lie. It’s a fundamental principle that we will become like the God we worship. So who is your god? Is it the God of the Bible? If so then how we know Him is through His word and the belief of it.
So if the good news in the Bible holds the key to our salvation do you think that it may be an important thing for us to find out more about what’s in it? I would say so. Then the next question would be are you ready to do just that? I know I’m ready. I am ready to do this with you. I am ready to do this with you because God cares about you and I care about you. And believe me we will both learn a lot together.
I would encourage you also to begin to start devoting time in your day to prayer. As I said last week, the study of Gods Word and prayer are the two ways we build on our relationship with God. Prayer can be as simple as just talking with God. No more complex than that. Talk with Him like you are just talking to your best friend.
Remember the saying two is company and three is a crowd. Hard to get close to someone with someone else sitting right next to you both isn’t it.
Put aside time everyday and have some alone time with God. It will strengthen your relationship with Him. Even if it is just a few minutes a day to start with. We need to continually strive to keep building our relationship with Him. Getting closer to Him also helps us keep farther away from sin.
Think of it this way, the closer we are to God the farther away we are from sin and the closer we are to sin the farther away we are from God.
Our goal is not to see how close we can get to the edge of the cliff without falling off but to be as far away from the edge as we can. Only there is there true safety. Don’t flirt with the edge, it is far too dangerous a place. Keep as far away from it as you can and keep as close to God instead as you can.
Some of the major themes of Romans
Sin: Sin means refusing to do God’s will and failing to do all that God wants. Since Adam’s rebellion against God, our nature is to disobey Him. Our sin cuts us off from God. Sin causes us to want to live our own way rather than God’s way. Because God is morally perfect, just, and fair, He is right to condemn sin.
Salvation: Our sin points out our need to be forgiven and cleansed. Although we don’t deserve it, God in His kindness, reached out to love and forgive us. He provides the way for us to be saved. Christ’s death paid the penalty for our sin.
Growth: By God’s power, believers are sanctified or made holy. This means we are set apart from sin, enabled to obey and to become more like Christ. When we are growing in our relationship with Christ, the Holy Spirit frees us from the demands of the law and the fear of judgment.
Sovereignty: God oversees and cares about His people past, present, and future. God’s ways of dealing with people are always just and fair.
Service: When our purpose is to give credit to God for His love, power, and perfection in all we do, we can serve him properly. Serving Him unifies all believers and enables us to show love and sensitivity to others.
So as we start through the book of Romans next week, I would just pray that God would build you up through the hearing and study of His word. This is in my opinion one of the most important books for us to study from in the Bible. I know it is my personal favorite.
