Romans Introduction

Introduction
Paul probably wrote this letter on his third missionary journey. His work in the eastern Mediterranean area was about finished, and he desired to visit Rome to assist the church that had already been started there. It was probably written about 57 A.D. in the early spring of the year. Paul’s primary message in this letter is that the gospel is for all of mankind, Jew and Gentile alike. This Pauline epistle provides us with the most comprehensive and systematic statement of faith found anywhere in the bible. It also talks about guilt, sanctification and security.

Theological doctrines addressed in the book
1. Doctrine of Apostolic Authority What was the basis of Paul’s apostolic authority; and how does that relate to his authority to write scripture?

He was "called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Christ;" (1:1-6)

Apostolic authority was key to determining canonical writings (authoritative). One of the major proof text requirements of cannon was that the writer had to be an apostle or have gotten his information directly and personally from an apostle, for his writings to be accepted as God breathed (II Tim. 3:16, 17). Mark obviously got his information from Paul or possibly Peter, his uncle, or maybe even his cousin Barnabas. (cf. Acts 12:12 with 15:37) Luke got his information from Paul. He was Paul’s personal physician.

2. The Doctrine of Hell and Heaven Why are those who never heard the gospel doomed to spend eternity in hell?

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." (Rom. 1:18, 19)

“. . . and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” (2:32)

Men do not go to hell for their failure to respond to the gospel. They go to hell for their failure to respond to the knowledge of God that He has placed within them. Though all have that knowledge, all suppress the truth and continue in unrighteousness. (Rom. 1:18-32 for entire context) God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience in not destroying all in the womb of their mothers (what we all deserve) is because He desires all to come to the knowledge of the truth and thus repentance. He elects, predestines, effectually calls, regenerates, gives faith and repentance, justifies, definitively sanctifies, adopts, progressively sanctifies, and then glorifies those He chooses without regard for their sin. These elect have the incredible privilege of spending eternity in the kingdom of God because God decided it would be so.

"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance." (2:4 cf. also Ez.33:11)

The doctrine of heaven is a lot simpler than most would make it. The problem lies in the incorrect teaching that is rampant in churches today. The major problem lies in not distinguishing the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. Or course, today God is King of both as will He be for all of eternity. But today, the earth is not yet restored, so it is currently under the administration of Satan and his fallen angels. The eternal kingdom of God will not be in the first, second, or third heavens. God’s throne is currently in the third heaven. When Jesus returns to establish his Kingdom on the earth for one thousand years, his throne will be in Jerusalem (Rev. 20; Zech 14:6-21). At the end of the thousand years, Satan will be released for a short time to mount one last military assault against the kingdom of God. He will be defeated and thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone for eternity (Rev. 20:7-10). After the Great White Throne Judgment, where all unbelievers will be judged and cast into hell (Rev. 21:11), this earth will be purged of all evil with fire (II Pet. 3:7), a new heavens and earth will be ushered in (Rev. 21:10-22:5). From that time forth and forever, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will reign from Jerusalem (Rev. 21:12-22:6).

No human of God’s creation will be floating around on clouds playing harps. We will be living on a perfectly restored planet whose entire surface will be like the Garden of Eden. We will each have jobs that will be a direct reflection of our faithfulness in administering those gifts and talents God has given us during this life (Matt. 25:14-30; II Cor. 5:10; Rom. 2:16; 14:10; Rev. 22:12). Work will once again be the joy it was intended to be before the fall. There’s every reason to believe we will be enjoying the best of what the planet’s resources have to offer. Try to imagine the rich resources we have in America today used to their absolute maximum capacity without diminishing them one iota. Imagine those resources being administered by leaders who have no inclination toward greed, power, or wealth. Imagine a planet with no sin. That will be the kingdom of God for all eternity.

3. The Doctrine of Works (Rom. 1:17; James 2:26) Why does it seem Paul and James differ on this doctrine?

Men are judged according to their deeds. In other words, though salvation is by faith, and sanctification is based entirely on faith, as already indicated, one’s functioning position in the kingdom’s of hell (though to describe anything in hell as functional is a stretch) and heaven will be based upon deeds done during this life. James’ words were looking to a future event where Jesus will reward us according to our deeds done in the name of our Lord. Paul was speaking about the doctrine of soteriology (salvation), both the confession we make at a point in time and the lives we live until we are taken to our Lord. Works do not make us worthy to be saved. They are the natural result of one who has indeed been saved.

“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.”(2:5, 6 cf. 7-16; II Cor. 5:10; Rev. 22:12)

I suppose one of the great tragedies of contemporary preaching is its failure to point out that not everyone in heaven will be doing the same thing. Jesus will have his rulers and leaders of tribes and nations throughout the world. Those who have been actively fulfilling their call to ministry will be rewarded according to that faithlessness. That is the whole point of parables like the one about the faithful steward (talents), repeated with different parameters each time it is given (Matt. 21:33-46; 25:14-30; Lk. 19:11-27). Of course, any task in God’s kingdom will be better than any judgment which lands one in hell. That said, it is ludicrous to believe a just God will reward the man who lives a life of wanton pleasure for seventy years and on his death bed confesses Jesus as Lord, will be positionally in the kingdom of God equal to the one who lived forty or fifty years fulfilling, faithfully his calling to ministry. If the death bed confession is legitimate, the repentant one will indeed enter the kingdom of God upon death, but to suggest he will be in charge of nations is at best naïve. The main problem with such theology is that it comes from a complete ignorance of what the kingdom of God will be like.

Jesus’ parable about the laborers in the field who were hired in the final hour of the day, have nothing to do with this biblical truth (Matt. 20:1-16). That parable tells us church members who are called into the kingdom in the final age of history as we know it will receive the same reward for faithfulness as those called shortly after the fall. In other words, His church is just as much called and commissioned as were the Jews. The Jews are the special, chosen people of the Old Covenant. The church is the special, chosen people of the New Testament (Matt. 20:1-16). We, the church, are those called in the eleventh hour.

4. The Doctrine of Circumcision (2:26) Why do New Testament believers not have to be circumcised?

Most people don’t bother discussing or teaching about this topic because it is not an issue in most western countries. Paul makes it clear, as does the council at Jerusalem (Acts 15 specifically verse 29) that Gentile believers do not need to be circumcised (2:26-29) to be part of God’s New Covenant. This rite of circumcision was for Hebrew believers and was a sign between God and the Hebrews, physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob (Gen. 17).

5. The Doctrine of Depravity (3:10-18, 23, 24; 4:12) Are you serious? Do you really want me to believe I can do nothing to please God as an unbeliever?

"There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God." (3:10)

Of course one has to read verses 10-18 to get the total impact of this doctrine. Over and again, Romans 3 speaks to the disgusting condition in which man finds himself without regeneration. It behooves us to differentiate between total and utter depravity at this juncture. Utter depravity would mean man was so far gone, God could do nothing for him. Utter means beyond reconciliation. Total depravity simply means man can do nothing, without supernatural intervention, to please his Creator. He has nothing personally good to bring to the table, so to speak. That condition means God must do something to make it possible, without violating His holiness, to impute righteousness to him. It is by God’s grace and God’s grace alone that one is elected, predestined, effectually called, regenerated, has the faith to repent, gets justified, definitively sanctified, adopted, progressively sanctified, and finally glorified. Contrary to the simplistic approach things like the Four Spiritual Laws suggest, salvation is a past, present, and future event. True, redemptive salvation necessitates that a series of things occur. We will discuss them thoroughly when we get to soteriology in this study.

6. The Doctrine of Justification (3:27, 28; 4:16; Gen. 15:6) Justification is much more than suggesting, as the cute little play on words does, “It’s just as if I had never sinned.”

It is trite to suggest justification is “just as if I had never sinned.” Justification is not a vague, simplistic, ethereal concept like “just as if” suggests. It is a done deal, etched in iron, fact that’s as real as rubies and radical revolutionaries. Justification is accomplished by God alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. However, as James reminds us, it does not stand alone. In other words, while there is absolutely nothing one can do to merit God’s favor, scripture makes it clear in multitudinous places that saving faith is always accompanied by works that bring glory and honor to God. Those works, done because of our love for God’s goodness do not save us, but they are the evidence that He has saved us. That’s what James means when he states, “. . . faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26) Saving faith will always produce godly works.

7. The Doctrine of Security (Rom. 8:38; 9:15-18; cf. John 6:44, 55; 10:27-30; 15:16) What is the basis for my belief that I cannot lose what God gave freely?

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (8:38)

“For He says to Moses, ‘I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." (9:15, 16)

To thoroughly understand the doctrine of security, one has to understand the doctrine of election. Once we realize God and God alone determined, before the foundation of the world, those He would save, we can grasp and rest in the doctrine of security. If we did not choose to be saved, we cannot choose to be lost. It is by God’s omnipotence and omniscience we were chosen; and it is by His immutableness we are held in His grace and mercy. It is futile to think one who is not part of the elect will ever believe in the doctrine of security. Therefore it is safe to assume one who does not believe in the doctrine of election and predestination is not in Christ.

8. The Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness (10:3, 4) Am I really righteousness because of Christ’s imputed righteousness to me.

“For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." (10:3)

I perceive this is one of the most misunderstood doctrines in all scripture accept maybe the doctrine of the trinity. We will discuss it in great detail when we get there. For now, it is important we understand God does not see His children as sinners. He sees them through the prism of Christ sinless life. In other words, all of the good works and sinless life Christ led are ours. In Christ, we are perfect. That does not mean we are perfected in time. In time, the time bound lives we are now living, we are moving toward the image of Christ each day as we grow in the grace and knowledge of His abundance (Phil. 3:20, 21). However, God chooses to see us “in Christ,” which means, in the eternal sense, we were perfected in Christ before the foundation of the world. Our works do nothing to add to our righteousness. All works done for the glory and honor of God in this life are investments in the kingdom of God, which are part of our eternal bank account. They are the deeds for which we will be rewarded in eternity. (see pages 4 & 5) Imputed righteousness is not to be confused with infused righteousness (Catholic Doctrine), which suggests, once we are saved, we then have the power within our own selves to be personally righteous.

9. The Doctrine of Soteriology i.e., salvation (Rom. 10:9) On the basis of what am I saved?

“. . . That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (10:9)

If there are any two verses that can lead one to the saving knowledge of Christ, there is this one and Acts 2:38. Of course, the problem is with each is that one must know what it means to confess Jesus as Lord, understand the resurrection story, and know why it is necessary and what it means to repent. Under the doctrine of depravity (p. 6), I have already listed the ten elements that always accompany salvation. These are not a magical formula one needs to follow to be saved. They are the biblical elements that always become manifest when true salvation has been rendered. They are the evidences about which II Cor. 13:5 speaks. If any of them are missing, minus glorification naturally (this will occur when Jesus returns, unites us with our regenerated bodies, and takes us into the millennium with Him), there is no true regeneration, thus no salvation.

10. The Doctrine of Stupidity (Rom. 11:8-10) Are unbelievers really too stupid to believe?

“God gave them a spirit of stupor.” Of course, there is no doctrine of stupidity. If there were any such doctrine, it would be called the doctrine of stupor, not stupidity. I just thought a little humor would make this intense material a little easier to swallow. The point that needs to be made here regarding Israel’s current rejection of our Lord as the Messiah for whom they waited for centuries, is that they are now, as a nation, being blinded by God from the knowledge of Christ and His first coming. And crucial to that understanding is that they will, once again, have their eyes opened and be reunited in covenant with Christ, as detailed in Revelation 7, when He decides to do that. This current spirit of stupor is only temporary, and its source is none other than the God of Abraham Himself.

11. The Doctrine of Gifts i.e., the Holy Spirit (Rom. 12:1-8; I Cor. 12-14, Eph. 4:11-16; I Pet. 4:10) Does every believer really have a gift or several gifts?

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (I Pet. 3:15)

I don’t believe I have ever heard the gifts referred to as a doctrine. There are many possible reasons for this failure. The most likely reason is that the discussion of gifts seems to always prompt dissension among the brethren. Books upon books have been written about the existence and appropriate function of gifts within the local body of Christ. Even I have written one. For now, I will only point out that Romans 12 tells us a great deal about them and instructs us how they are to be administered within the body of Christ. We will discuss them in detail when we get there. For now, I will only say I believe they are all intended to still be functioning in the body of Christ, and that every church would better fulfill its calling for the kingdom if the appropriate functioning of all gifts within the corporate local body of Christ was taught and encouraged.

12. The Doctrine of Ecclesiology i.e., the church (16:3-16; Heb. 10:25) Why do I have to go to church? Can’t I worship God in the forest while hunting or fishing just as well as I do in church?

Of course we can and should worship God twenty-fours a day, wherever we find ourselves living out the daily activities of this life. That acknowledged, I believe it is safe to say one who has no sense of his need to meet congregationally with others who are in Christ, has likely never truly decided to follow Him. I have personally experienced long periods of time (months) where I was not able to find a group of believers who were studying God’s word and fellowshipping with one another as described and demanded in scripture. During those dry spells, as I call them, I was praying and seeking intently for any such group. I never gave up on the idea and the knowledge I needed to be fellowshipping weekly with people of like faith. I even tried to get a home church going in my home town. I do wholeheartedly believe one is better off not in a church that is clearly preaching heresy or where God’s word is not accepted as both inerrant and authoritative.

I do not believe a person should stay in a church he knows is failing miserably to fulfill its calling and mission. I don’t believe it is any single Christian’s responsibility to try getting such a church on the right track. And I don’t have a simple answer for anyone living in a small town where there is no local church that is preaching the word accurately, with authority and conviction. It seems gathering in a home with people who are of like mind and praying for a pastor/teacher to lead a church planting would be a good place to start. And it is certainly unbiblical to suggest a group of people meeting without a clearly called and elected pastor/teacher and/or group of leading elders to whom they are responsible is a church. Timothy, Titus, and Ephesians make that abundantly clear. God’s church demands accountability, a concept foreign and extremely uncomfortable to people who don’t attend one.

Even chapter 16 of Romans, the infamous chapter where Paul sends greetings and comments about twenty-seven men and women with whom he had ministered, we find doctrine. It appears nearly every first century church was meeting in homes. There is only one verse in the entire New Testament that indicates otherwise. While Paul often went into the synagogues to try convincing Jews in an area that Jesus was the Christ, in every case, the synagogue members, as a whole, rejected the message, so Paul took away those who believed and started churches, which met in homes in every case but one. The only verse that indicates otherwise was when Paul took believers to the school of Tyrannus, which was next to the synagogue in Ephesus (Acts 19:9). This of course doesn’t mean to suggest it is unbiblical to meet in buildings for church services. I personally believe what it does indicate is that any church which builds a monumental edifice with crystal, magnificent woodwork, stained glassed windows, a $4000 podium, and a $20,000 sound system is wasting God’s resources and its membership and leaders will give account to God on that fateful day. When I consider the number of starving brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who could be fed with the massive amounts of money we waste on unnecessary accoutrements we use to decorate the buildings we call churches in this country, it makes me nauseous. The monthly heating bills alone for many of our more extravagant church buildings in this country would feed thousands of starving children in Haiti for a year.

We have learned there are no less than twelve major church doctrines contained within the pages of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. It is therefore crucial we study this book carefully and contextually. There are no doctrines found exclusively within its pages. Thus we can confirm our understanding of each of the doctrines with which Paul deals by referring to other verses in other letters and books that address the same doctrine. Which also means Romans can be used to increase our understanding of these doctrines as they are revealed in other places. That is why Paul’s letter to the Romans is important for us to study while focused and with intensity.