The Book of Romans and Its Truth To Us Today - Chapter 1

The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” We must read it in its entirety and through the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit interpret scripture with scripture. When God inspired its writing through the authors by the Spirit He was intentional in how it is to be read. All that being said what if you had to be restricted to having only one book of the Bible? Which might you choose? Many would take the Psalms, for in them is great comfort. Some would pick Proverbs for its practical advice and wisdom. Maybe the Gospel of John would be a choice many would take. But I suggest the Book of Romans might be the best choice of a Christian for in this letter written by Paul, resides the basic teachings we all need to understand what the life of a disciple of Jesus should look like.

Having completed the Book of Acts this morning I am blessed to be moving into my latest Bible study through the Bible; Romans. There is so much valuable teachings in this book that I hope to share in the coming days some of the salient points we need to remember as I take this journey. I pray it changes my life and those who are willing to hear its truth as well.

Paul doesn’t mess around in this book; he gets right into the truth of the Christian life. Since it is a letter written to believers in Rome that he does not personally know he begins with an introduction of his own credentials in order to have credibility and authority in being an apostle to them. To be one of THE apostles of Christ meant the person had to have seen the risen Christ and Paul certainly had that claim. But the word apostle in general terms simply means “one sent”, a messenger if you will. In that sense all of us who are Christians are to be apostles to the world as we take the Gospel out to the lost. Thus when we look at Paul and who he was, we can find qualities in him that we must also share in order to be effective witnesses to the world.

Paul opens Romans with a statement of humility. In verse one he calls himself a bondservant of Christ Jesus. What this means is that he is a slave. A slave set apart for the Gospel of God and this is exactly what we should be as well. Paul preached the Gospel and so should we. We are not all called to be missionaries in foreign lands but we are all called to be missionaries wherever we are.

As Paul continues on in his letter we find him expressing his concern for the believers he writes to. In this section we can see a lesson in how we should respond to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. First of Paul was thankful for the other believers.  So should we be.

Romans 1:8
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

Paul prayed for the other believers. This is an imperative for us as well. We have an enemy that seeks to devour us, especially those who are carrying on the work of God. Paul was praying for those he didn’t even know.

Romans 1:9-10
“For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.”

Paul loved his brothers and sisters in Christ, so much that he desired to come see them and to share mutual encouragement. What an example for us to follow.

Romans 1:11-12
For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.

Paul goes on to speak about the power of the Gospel. He tells them that the Gospel is for all people. He is unashamed.

Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The theology begins quickly. Salvation is by faith. And that is how we must live.

The letter takes a quick turn at this point. Having spoken of believers as righteous by faith he now shifts gears and begins to speak of what unrighteousness is. The lesson gets hard here and many will turn away from what is said by Paul in these coming verses. But remember Paul has established his standing as an apostle. He is sent by God to bring this message and it must not be ignored. Why must it not be ignored? Read on.

Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Yes, God is love. But God is also just and holy and will judge unrighteousness. Paul will go on to speak on what unrighteousness looks like. In the process Paul shoots down this question we hear so often, “What about those who never heard of Jesus?”

Romans 1:19-20
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Man knows there is a God for He has revealed Himself to us through creation. The Bible teaches us that if we seek Him we will find Him. But many simply choose to reject truth. They are without excuse.

Paul goes on to explain that those who refuse to acknowledge God will be abandoned to their own sinfulness. They become fools.

One area we see in the world today is that man wants to declare what is clearly by scripture wrong, to be right. Homosexuality is the hot topic today. Paul is clear that this violates the holiness of God and its acceptance is the sign that God has given those who reject Him over to their own sinful passions. These are God’s words, not mine. They must be revered.

Romans 1:24-27
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.  For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Chapter one finishes up with a list of sinful and unrighteous behavior.

Romans 1:28-31
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.  They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Clearly this is picture of America today. But there is a last warning for us as believers. Some say live and let live. It’s not our business to condemn others. I agree. Paul agrees. God will handle them. But the warning for us is this.

Romans 1:32
Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

As Christians are we giving approval to those who practice these unrighteous acts? These are convicting words and we should pray over them asking the Holy Spirit to move in us as we live out our Christian lives.

God bless all those who read these words and put them into practice. Be like Paul and pray for each other. Pray for me. I have not yet attained the fullness of the impact of the Gospel upon my own life and am often guilty of much sin. How about you?