INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ROMANS

Mike Balloun teaches today. 08/08/20.
INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ROMANS

VERSES: Acts 18:1-2; Romans 1:1-4, 1:16, 2:9-10, 3:10

STUDY NOTES: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5v4mwljog6o25ch/AABq-hvymVPI9D_87ndfgtbaa?dl=0

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Paul’s purpose to write this letter was not specifically to share the “Gospel” with its two components of Grace (the gift of eternal life and the prize of the “Kingdom of heavens”). For many of the components of the Gospel are not mentioned or spoken of specifically. For example, nothing is said specifically about the all important Second Coming of Christ, or the First Resurrection, or the Bride ruling, etc. The truths set forth in this Letter are not to document what the “Gospel” per se was or is, but to clearly state certain key elements of the Gospel, peculiar to their Day (which also have direct application today). To say Paul’s intent was to write a Letter to simply declare the “Gospel” message would skew the overall Message to be gleaned. Today’s “Gospel of Grace” Message so greatly deflects the vital Message of God’s Salvation Plan, and so as generally presented today, it was not the thrust or intent of Paul’s very long letter to the Church of Rome. The letter itself was a tacit “argument”… (with an imagined someone; “THEREFORE thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art…” And the 11 times he argues, “God forbid” throughout the Letter is in answer to statements or questions he himself poses) about the state within the Church due to ignorance of the general principles of God’s plan of Salvation for both Jews and Gentiles.

All of this historical analysis set aside for a moment, the intent of the Holy Spirit goes much deeper than just the historical need of unity in the Church of Rome, or the future surety of Israel’s restoration, or Paul’s personal God-guided thoughts. In that the Truths set forth in the Book of Romans gives the Christian the clearest outline of God’s Salvation Plan for man from the inside out; from a lost unregenerate bound for God’s eternal Wrath, to the glory of firstborn sonship. In that the gift of righteousness in Christ received is the means by which the Holy Spirit establishes His foothold inside of a now redeemed person. It is the divine eternal nature of God that causes the rebirth of the spirit within him. It is then through this imparted divine nature that the further work of the spirit/Spirit can be accomplished in us, which is “…to be conformed to the image of his son…” which we do by yielding our spirit to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. This is the point of the Book of Romans; Christlikeness. And it is set forth for both the Jewish and Gentile believer in Christ.

In the first two chapters, Paul uses the term. “to the Jew first, and also the Greek (Gentile)” three times to set the tone and course of the Letter. (Romans 1:16;2:9-10) Paul wants to make it clear to the Church at Rome that he is under obligation to God for both Jew and Gentile to deflect any sense of favoritism. At Paul’s heart was the Message to the Ephesians…that of the ‘one new man'…and the calling to the kingdom of heavens.

The Book of Romans can be divided up into two parts. Chapters 1-8 are about our vertical relationship with God. Chapters 9-16 are about our horizontal relationships with man.

FIRST PART OF BOOK (CHAPTERS 1-8)
His Letter or Message in the first part (the first 8 Chapters) is intended to set forth the Truth that all “saved” (note that in the Greek, ‘saved’ has three tenses; past tense: I have been saved, present tense: I am being saved, and future tense: I will be saved) men, being Jew or Gentile, are now set on the very same ground before God in Christ.

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