ROMANS OVERVIEW
Introduction to Romans
Theme: Romans presents God's truth in its three categories (laws of
establishment, gospel, and doctrine for growth). The core of this
letter is the nature of God and the gospel that comes from God.
This gospel is in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The gospel message is
that God's righteousness is offered to mankind based on the work of
Christ on the cross, and is received by faith in Christ.
Romans demonstrates the effects of God's truth (in the three
categories) upon mankind. Author: Paul (Rom 1.1).
Date: Circa winter A.D. 56-57.
Paul wrote from: Corinth, on his third missionary trip ( Acts 20.1-16;
Rom 15.22-29; 16.1,23; 1 Cor 16.1-9; 2 Cor 8-9;).
Paul wrote to: Believers in Rome (Rom 1.7).
Political background: The first century church was under Roman rule.
God used Roman rule to protect, to consolidate, to extend, and to test
His young church. The city itself was prosperous and growing.
Working class, slaves, and aristocracy lived in Rome. Economic
subsidies, wealth, poverty, entertainment, government, public
buildings, parks, famous people, military, and intrigue filled the
city. Nero was the emperor at this time. He ruled from A.D. 54-68.
He became the emperor at age 17 and committed suicide at age 31. The
first part of his reign was adequate. The severe excesses for which
he is remembered did not come until later.
A guide to the content of Romans
Section Titles
Section 1: God's Righteousness And Man's Unrighteousness, Romans 1-3.
Section 2: God Gives His Righteousness Through Faith, Romans 4-5.
Section 3: The CWL (Christian Way Of Life) Is Possible, Romans 6-8.
Section 4: God And Israel, Romans 9-11.
Section 5: Day To Day CWL, Romans 12-16.
Section 1. God's Righteousness And Man's Unrighteousness
Chapter 1 Positive and negative volition at work
1. The apostle Paul works for God and God's gospel (1.1-7).
2. Paul wants spiritual advancement for the Roman believers (1.8-17).
3. Negative volition at God consciousness can bring terrible results
(1.18-32).
Chapter 2 Judging others is being self righteous
1. We are wrong to judge others because we all sin, and God is the
only judge (2.1-16).
2. The self-righteous, arrogant, religious Jew is worse off than the
Gentile that does not have God's law but follows the law's intention
(2.17-29).
Chapter 3 All people are sinful
1. The Jewish nation is special because God decided to work through
them (3.1-8).
2. The Jews are not naturally better than Gentiles; all people are
sinful in comparison to God (3.9-20).
3. God gives His righteousness to unrighteous people through faith in
Jesus Christ (3.21-31).
Section 2. God Gives His Righteousness Through Faith
Chapter 4 Righteousness is given through faith
1. Abraham and David illustrate the truth that God gives His
righteousness to people through faith and not by works (4.1-9).
2. Neither ritual nor heritage will help mankind gain God's
righteousness (4.10-16).
3. Faith is believing what God has said; faith is not working in
order to earn something (4.17-25).
Chapter 5 Justification gives many benefits
1. Because God has justified believers, believers now possess peace
and hope (5.1-5).
2. God did the most for mankind when Jesus Christ died for sin and He
will certainly complete what he started out to do (5.6-11).
3. The one sinful act of Adam caused all mankind to die and the one
righteous act of Christ made it possible for God to give eternal life
to anyone that believes (5.12-21).
Section 3. The CWL (Christian Way Of Life) Is Possible
Chapter 6 Union with Christ makes the CWL possible
1. The believer's union with Christ makes it possible and practical
to live the CWL now (6.1-11).
2. Believers should not allow sin to rule them because they are now
alive with God and under grace (6.12-14).
3. Believers are slaves of God and this slavery should result in
righteousness (6.15-23).
Chapter 7 The old sin nature inside
1. The believer's union with Christ broke any tie to law and at the
same time brought every believer into a new life with God (7.1-6).
2. Paul's sin nature rebelled against the holy law and produced
personal sins, and through this he learned what he was really like
inside (7.7-20).
3. Two laws are at work inside the believer, the law of sin and the
law of God (7.21-25).
Chapter 8 The Holy Spirit inside
1. Union with Christ places believers under the law of the Holy
Spirit in fact and in practice, not under the law of sin and death
(8.1-4).
2. Believers have the option of living through the Holy Spirit or
through the sin nature (8.5-7).
3. The Holy Spirit option is only true for those whom the Holy Spirit
indwells (8.8-11).
4. It then follows that believers are to live day to day like heirs
of God should live, by the Holy Spirit (8.12-17).
5. Creation may suffer now, but the future inheritance is much
greater than any present suffering (8.18-25).
6. God's plan guarantees that each believer is secure now in life and
will be secure forever (8.26-39).
Section 4. God And Israel
Chapter 9 God's promise and Israel
1. Paul is sorry that God's chosen nation, Israel, has rejected
Christ (9.1-5).
2. Now this Israel has descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and
these three are related to God through promise (9.6-13).
3. God has the right to select Israel based on believed promise
(9.14-23).
4. God will always have people that believe His promise (9.24-29).
5. People that believe God's promise are given God's righteousness
(9.30-33).
Chapter 10 Israel needs faith righteousness
1. Paul wants Israel to believe in Christ so that the nation will be
given God's righteousness and then possess salvation (10.1-4).
2. Faith righteousness [God's righteousness given to mankind through
faith] is always superior to law righteousness [mankind's own
righteousness that is based on keeping the law] (10.5-10).
3. Faith righteousness is for anyone that wants it, but they must
first hear and believe God's gospel (10.11-15).
4. However, Israel illustrates for us that not everyone who hears
God's gospel will believe it (10.16-21).
Chapter 11 There is always a grace remnant
1. God always has a grace remnant [a small number of people who
understand grace and accept salvation through faith] among Israel
(11.1-10).
2. Israel was temporarily set aside because of her unbelief and
during this time Gentiles were joined to God's kingdom through faith
(11.11-24).
3. God will restore Israel to prominence after He completes His plan
with the Gentiles (11.25-32).
4. God and His works are infinite (11.33-36).
Section 5. Day To Day CWL
Chapter 12 A new kind of priesthood
1. God's plan makes all believers into priests and as priests they no
longer sacrifice animals, but instead give themselves to God while at
the same time they are progressively being changed inside (12.1-2).
2. Believer-priests are individual members of the body of Christ and
should serve God in the body according to their spiritual gifts
(12.3-8).
3. Believer-priests should live within the mental attitude and power
of love (12.9-21).
Chapter 13 Authority orientation and the CWL
1. God delegates authority to certain people and this authority gives
freedom, order, and protection (13.1-7).
2. Believers only owe love to others and those who love correctly are
oriented to authority (13.8-10).
3. Time is passing so get on with daily spiritual growth which makes
you the kind of person that Jesus Christ is (13.11-14).
Chapter 14 Give freedom instead of judgments and obstacles
1. Believers are supposed to allow each other (and especially the
weak believer) to live his own life for the Lord instead of judging
each other and showing contempt for each other (14.1-12).
2. Believers have freedom to live life, but should use this freedom
for building people up and not for tearing them down (14.13-23).
Chapter 15 Onward and upward
1. The strong believer should help the weak believer so that the
weaker and stronger may grow and glorify God (15.1-6).
2. Jewish and Gentile believers are to accept each other (15.7-13).
3. Paul's ministry does not reflect what Paul has done, but what
Christ has accomplished through Paul (15.14-21).
4. Paul plans on visiting the Romans on his way to Spain, but he must
first take a contribution to Jerusalem (15.22-29).
5. Paul asks the Romans to pray for his Jerusalem trip and for his
trip to Rome (15.30-33).
Chapter 16 Personal notes and greetings
1. Paul recommends Phoebe, a serving lady, and asks that the Romans
help her in whatever and whenever she needs help (16.1-2).
2. Paul sends personal notes to many of the Roman believers
(16.3-16).
3. Paul warns them to beware of the troublemakers, specifically those
that live by their emotions and smooth talk people and work against
the doctrine that has been taught (16.17-21).
4. Some of the men with Paul also send personal greetings to the
Romans (16.21-24).
5. God, who stabilizes believers, has all glory (16.25-27).
by Tod M. Kennedy
Computers for Christ - Chicago
Index of Preacher's Help and Notes
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