Romans Lesson 1

Introduction

Let the Bible speak. In our program today, we’re going to begin a study of the Book of Romans. So let me encourage you to get your New Testaments and the opening to the first chapter of this grand book. In fact, the Book of Romans is perhaps the best treatise on the subject of salvation by the grace of God through faith. It is a very complicated and yet carefully constructed letter. And because of the way that it is constructed, it is one of those books of the New Testament that is often perverted and even misunderstood. There are many people who may, for example, go to certain passages of the book of Romans and they look only at a verse or two and isolate that verse and even lift it out of its context, they can come to a misunderstanding of the subject matter.

It is necessary that we get an overview of what the book is about, and be certain that we’re taking verses in the context of the study itself. For example, in Romans chapter 4, there’s the subject of discussion about the difference between salvation by grace versus by works. And there are those who sometimes have taken that subject in chapter 4, and they’ve come to the conclusion that salvation is by grace only. And they add a word that really is not in that text, because they misunderstand that the context is talking about meritorious works, that is works of the law of Moses. And yet, in the subject of salvation by the system of faith, as as the book of Romans certainly uh lays out for us, we understand in this book that it is obedient faith.

It’s fascinating that when you read the book of Romans, for example, in Romans chapter one and verse five, as well as in the closing chapter, chapter 16 and verse 26, it speaks about obedience to the faith. This is the great book on salvation by the grace of God, but it does not say by grace only. It teaches that it’s salvation by grace through faith. Man has a part, but even then it is not by faith only, it is by obedient faith, as the book certainly teaches us. We’re going to study from Romans chapter one today, we’re particularly going to look at verses 16 and 17, which really stands as a theme to this grand book. For the Apostle Paul, in writing of the church at Rome said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone to believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

1. For I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. You notice in verses 16 and 17 that this conjunction for is found three different types. And actually it sets forth three important ideas. The apostle said, first of all, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now, if there were anyone who could have been ashamed, or who could have been tired and weary of preaching, who might have even had the idea that it’s time to quit, you might think it was the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, you see, from the very time of his conversion to Christ had been persecuted, and by the enemies of Christ had had been uh there had been many attempts to silence him.

In fact, if you’re familiar with the story of the apostle, you know that in Acts chapter 9, after his conversion, even in the city of Damascus, it was only a short time thereafter that the Jews plotted to kill him. And he had to escape by night as uh over the over the wall. But even when he got back to Jerusalem, the Christians at Jerusalem were uh somewhat doubtful about his sincerity, and they did not receive him with open arms at first. As he went on his preaching journeys with Barnabas, you know that there are many stories of places where he was persecuted in Iconium. He fled because he received word that they were ready to stone him. But when he went to Lystra, they did stone him and leave him for dead.

Even on this second journey at Philippi. He was put into prison and treated as though he were a criminal to uh to be resisted. They put in the stocks even. All he had done was heal a woman who was filled with a spirit of divination. And yet, everywhere he went, his preaching was blaspheme, spoken against, and physically he suffered many persecutions. Was he ashamed? Could he have quit? Well, the apostle, though he was an apostle of the Lord, if he was simply looking at it from man’s point of view, perhaps he would have been discouraged and he would have quit. But in Romans chapter one, he sets forth this grand theme. The gospel is God’s power to salvation. He was not ashamed. In fact, look at the opening words.

Let’s go back to Romans chapter one and read verses one through seven, and we get some idea of why he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of God, which he had promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. Among whom are ye also the call to Jesus Christ. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is believed that Paul at this time was addressing a letter to the church at Rome while on his third preaching journey, probably about AD 57. He was writing a church in really the most important city in the world at that time, for Rome was the capital of a world empire. And yet, even in this city that was filled with paganism and rule by Caesar, even who the Caesars later even ordered that the people worship him as though they were Lord God. Yet the apostle was not ashamed even to come there. And thankful that there were saints in Rome, who indeed loved the Lord.

Surely he had seen the Lord in the vision. He was important in the work of the Lord. And yet, before that he says, Paul a servant of Jesus Christ. Here you see an attitude of a man, though he could have prided himself being an apostle, yet he looked upon himself as a servant. Really the word here is as a slave. He was totally committed to Jesus Christ, a servant, is one who is totally submissive to his master. He did not take Trent as a as an apostle as as though one to be lifted up and praised of others. He simply identified himself as an apostle to show that he had the authority of Jesus Christ to preach the gospel as revealed to him, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

And yet, as a servant, oh would that men today would simply humble themselves and be a servant to the Lord, that we would lose self, that we would quit being selfish in our spirit and attitude, even sometimes found among Christians. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. And he said of this gospel which he preached, he spoke that as though it had been promised before, verse two, by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. You see, the message that Paul preached was really not new in one sense. In fact, what had been revealed in the Old Testament through the prophets has now been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who is the Messiah. In fact, in verse 3, he describes this gospel as concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. And he describes in this that he was our Lord, made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power.

To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ is to preach that he is both man and God. In the flesh, he was of the seed of David. The prophets had foretold that he should be of that seed. And 2 Samuel chapter 7, in fact, that he would reign on the throne of David. But also he was the Son of God. The very resurrection, with the power of God, proving that he was different from any man. He is indeed man, born of the seed of David in the flesh, as man, suffered and tempted in all points, like as we are. And yet he was divine, deity, the Son of God. He came to seek and to save the lost. He died for man’s sins, and in order that man might have promise of life everlasting.

He paid the penalty of sin. He died in our place. And then, as he says in verse 5, we’ve received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations. As we pointed out a moment ago, this grand book talks about salvation by faith. But you notice in the very opening words, it talks about obedience to the faith. He addresses it to all that are in Rome. Called of God, called to be saints, people who are in the relationship with God, beloved of him. Now, as you see the apostles speaking to these brethren in Rome, we find that he also now describes why he has not been there before but intends to come. Reading now in chapter one, verses eight through fifteen, he said, First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. Making request, if by any means now at length, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end that you may be established, that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, but oftentimes I purpose to come unto you, but I was led hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. I am a debtor, both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

In these few verses, really, we find simply an introduction to this grand book. And you notice as he talks to these brethren in a in a direct manner, he says, I give thanks for you. Thankful that there were Christians in Rome. And he said, Your faith is spoken of, that is, it’s known throughout the whole world. And he said, Even God is my witness that I make mention of you without ceasing always in my prayers. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have the apostle Paul praying for us without ceasing? And then he describes how that he had desired to come to Rome. He desired even to come there before his intentions as described in this book, but for some reason he was unable to come. But he says, I long to see you.

I long to come and impart some spiritual gift. Exactly what that was. Maybe it was an imparting of a miraculous gift through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, or maybe it’s simply by establishing in the faith by the teaching of the word. Yet he knows and says to them that when he comes, that he would be able to be established in the faith. By the mutual faith, both of you and me, even he would be refreshed. But notice particularly, as he says in verses 14 and 15, an attitude that he really felt. I am in debt. As a servant, as a servant of Jesus Christ, the apostle felt that indebtedness to all men, both to the Greek, to the barbarian, to the wise and the unwise.

It’s as though to say, in debt to all men. To do what? As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. As we go through the rest of this book, you’re going to see why Paul felt that urgency, that indebtedness. For the gospel is God’s power to save. Man without the gospel is lost. Should we not ourselves today who know the gospel feel a sense of deadness? Do you not have some neighbor, some friend, even some member of your family who is lost in sin and without the gospel, oh would that as the apostle, as a servant. We may not become discouraged and quit because there are others who do not want it, or others who may even persecute, but rather, in a sense that the apostle had, to feel in debt because of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

He gave the greatest gift of all, should we not tell others about it? We’re going to pause just for a moment. When we come back, we’re going to look further at these other two expressions that begin with this word for, for. For it is the power of God to salvation. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. I hope that you’ll stay with us. One of the most important verses in the book of Romans, and described by many people as the theme of the book, is in Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and 17. It is important not only because it gives us insight into the attitude of the Apostle Paul, as we’ve just been discussing, but it also shows the importance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. For It Is the Power of God unto Salvation

I’m reading again Romans 1, verses 16 and 17, where he said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. We’ve tried to outline this lesson into three different phrases that begin with the word or the conjunction for. In our first half of this lesson, we talked about how that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. But now I want to call your attention to the statement that he makes when he says, For it is the power of God unto salvation.

To everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. As in Romans chapter 2 and verse 11, coupled together with this, the scripture says that God is no respecter of persons. It is for everyone that believeth. But notice what it is for. It is the power of God unto salvation. Now that is significant. In fact, there are many preachers even in our modern world who need to come back and observe and think about the statement that the apostle made about the gospel of Christ. It is God’s power unto salvation. You notice the apostle did not say that the power of God unto salvation is God’s election. Now there are those who teach, and many of them, even but from the book of Romans, apparently, they think they found verses that talk as though God has elected certain specific individuals even before they’re born, and that he infuses those certain specific individuals and they alone with uh with the Holy Spirit so that they have faith and that they’re law they’re saved and cannot be lost.

But that’s not in the book of Romans nor any other part of the New Testament. God has elected the means of salvation to be through Jesus Christ. The Bible does teach predestination, but what God has predestinated for salvation would be through Jesus Christ, the sacrifice that he would make in behalf of all men. And the gospel that teaches about Jesus Christ, who he is, and the great sacrifice that he’s made for us, that’s the power of God and salvation. It isn’t that God holds us like puppets at the end of a string and has elected certain specific specific individuals, and only they can be saved, and the rest, no matter what they might try, cannot be saved. That’s indeed an unwholesome doctrine. But it is believed by some.

You notice he said again, the power of God and salvation is the gospel. He did not say that it’s through Holy Spirit baptism that one has to pray for, and even some people who pray for the Holy Spirit baptism and do not get it, become frustrated because they are not able to speak in the gibberish called tongues these days, and there’s some who go away feeling as though God must not love them. They do not understand why they haven’t received what others claim to be the Holy Spirit baptism. But that again is not what He said is in order to salvation. The gospel is God’s power to salvation. Read what they preach in New Testament times. What did they tell men to do in order to be saved?

The gospel is God’s power to save. Again, modern churches and preachers need to examine what that really involves. There are so many churches today who thought that the way to draw the multitudes and the crowd is through some social gathering. And many churches have built their family life centers and that emphasize so much the social and the recreational and the secular education that there are many people who, because it’s done in the name of the church, think that they know God, and yet they’ve really never come to know the Lord. Indeed, the gospel is God’s power to save, meaning simply that men need to come to understand the word of God. How many people know only about the Bible rather than knowing the Bible? We’ve come to a generation of time where there are many people who really do not know the scriptures.

The gospel is not being preached as it should be in its fullness and completeness. But you notice the reason why the gospel is God’s power to save? Is because it is to everyone that believeth. You see, faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the word of God, Romans 10 and verse 17. If men are going to be saved by the gospel, they need to hear the gospel. The gospel is the means by which faith is produced. In fact, in 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 22 through 25, it is significant where the apostle Peter said, Seeing you have purified your souls. And that’s talking about salvation, isn’t it? Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through this period under unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently.

Being born again. Not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Now you notice how we’re born again? In 1 Peter 1:23, it says, by the word of God. That’s the same as the gospel. In fact, in verse 25, he says, The word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. The gospel is God’s power to save how? As it is preached, men hear it. By hearing it, faith comes. And as they obey the truth, that same gospel preached in the first century is the means by which men are saved. Oh, it’s so important that we come to the word of God and we neither add to it or subtract from it.

3. For Therein Is the Righteousness of God Revealed

The gospel is God’s power. But you notice a third conjunction, the word for in verse 17, where he says, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith, as is written, the just shall live by faith. Therein is revealed God’s righteousness. Now, what does that mean? Simply, if we’re going to understand God’s will and God’s way of salvation, it’ll only come through the word that is revealed, called the gospel. In Psalm 119, verse 17272, the psalmist said, All thy commandments are righteousness. Indeed, the summation of God’s will can be said in the gospel, all of his commandments. What would he have men to do in order to be saved? God’s righteousness is that which saves, not the righteousness that may come through man’s work.

In fact, even later in this book in Romans chapter 10, in verses 1, 2, and 3, the apostle speaks how that his desire and prayer to God for Israel, for the Jews, is that they might be saved. And he said, I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Now you see in this very book, he’s going to be talking about a people who are religious but don’t know God’s righteousness. I’m saying in our own world of day, how many are they who, like the Israelites in Romans 10 and verse 2, have a zeal of God.

But they’ve been diverted into their attention diverted into other things that really may be about God and about the Bible, but are not really understanding what the word is and following it without addition and without subtraction. We need to come to God’s righteousness. We need to come to the Bible. In fact, you notice in again in verse 17 of Romans chapter 1, he says, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. Now that statement within itself may be rather puzzling to some people. What does it mean from faith to faith? Well, actually, the New Testament speaks about the source of faith, the Word of God, and calls it the faith. In other words, the gospel, as we call this book, the New Testament, is the faith.

The New Testament describes it that way itself. In Jude verse 3, for example, the inspired writer says, earnestly contend for the faith, once delivered unto the saints. Literally, one time for all time. It has been delivered in the first century and is for all generations to come. The faith. In other words, it tells us of God’s righteousness. It is the source of faith. In Galatians chapter 3, in verses 23 through 25, there the apostle makes a contrast between even the law of Moses with the gospel of Christ. And he says it this way Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Now, in one sense, we might look back at the Old Testament and we see many characters of the Old Testament who had faith.

And yet in verse 23, he says, before faith came. Now, what that really signifies to us is before the faith came, we were kept under the law of Moses. Surely under the law of Moses there were some who believed in God, and they had faith. They walked by faith. Hebrews chapter 11, one of those great chapters that illustrates and talks about many examples of faith. But they didn’t follow the faith. The faith revealed in the gospel. The faith, now, as he says in Roman in Galatians 3 24, he says the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we’re no longer under a schoolmaster. Again, an important point.

The law of Moses was as a schoolteacher to bring us unto Christ. But now in the gospel is revealed the faith. So you notice in our text of Romans chapter 1 and verse 17, therein is the righteousness in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from the faith to faith. What does it mean? From faith to faith? From the faith, it produces faith in the heart of man who hears it. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And it is by faith that we are saved. In Romans 5, verses 1 and 2. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice and hope of the glory of God.

Indeed, in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, Paul said, We walk by faith and not by sight. It is by faith that we stand in the grace of God. The book of Romans, as we go through it, we’re going to see how it sets out for us the system of salvation by faith. As I indicated in our opening remarks, it isn’t by faith only, in the sense of just mentally understanding and agreeing, it is obedient faith. It isn’t faith only, really, nothing only saves. But the salvation by the system of faith, when we notice in this letter, is going to be contrasted with a system of works by the law of Moses, meritorious deeds. We’re not saved by works, we’re saved by faith. In fact, again in Romans 1, the scripture says, the just shall live by faith.

Now that’s first quoted in the Old Testament, Habakkuk chapter 2 and then verse 4. Interestingly, it’s found three different times in the New Testament. This passage in Romans 1 17, again in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 11, and in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 38. The just, those who are saved, those who are justified by God’s righteousness, are going to be saved by faith. And it’s not by the works of the law, Galatians 3.11. It is only those who persevere. If any man draw back, God has no pleasure in him, Hebrews 10 and verse 38. So we’re saved by faith. But notice in our final point of the lesson today, and back to a point we’ve earlier made.

Conclusion

Even in Romans 1 and verse 5, for obedience to the faith among all nations, he addressed this letter, and indeed preached the gospel of Christ. Romans begins and ends with that expression. Romans 16 and verse 26. And notice right in the middle of it, in Romans chapter 6, verses 17 and 18, he says, God bethink that you were the servants of sin, but you’ve obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. We’re going to be studying this lesson: how to be servants of righteousness through obedient faith. What a grand book. I hope that you’ll be studying with us each time as we continue our lessons in this great book of Romans.

The Gospel, God’s power to save. Thank you, and may God bless you.