ROMANS

Paul writes to the church in Rome, whom he plans to visit, whom he hopes to use as a launching pad for work further West and whose conflict between Jewish and Gentile believers he addresses in this his most famous letter.

Paul writes the letter to the Romans at the end of his third missionary journey from Corinth in 56 AD. Paul has just been able to solve a heart rending conflict with the Corinthian church, and with his mind at peace now, he starts looking to new pioneering work in the West. He feels that “now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you when I go to Spain” (Rom 15:23-24).
Though Paul has never yet been in Rome, he already knows many people in the church of Rome and greets twenty-six of them by name (Rom 16). In this letter he introduces himself and his gospel to the church, so that they will receive him and support him in his endeavours further West.
But even more importantly, Paul has heard of a deepening conflict and division in the church between Jewish and Gentile believers. To address this conflict, Paul re-teaches the basics of the gospel in a question-answer style. He anticipates possible objections and logically leads his readers to the right conclusions. The result is a superb and detailed presentation of the gospel and an irrefutable argument for the unity of the church. Romans is Paul’s longest and most famous letter.
He starts his letter off by showing that the Gentiles (and in fact all humans) are guilty before God: Though they did not have the specific revelation of the Old Testament, they did have the general revelation of God in creation and human experience. Yet they did not obey that revelation, but rather sinned and are therefore are under God’s justified wrath (Rom 1). The Jews, on the other hand, have received revelation of God through their calling, the Law and the prophets. The Jews judge the Gentiles for their sin, but do not obey God any better themselves (Rom 2). Therefore both Gentiles and Jews are guilty before God: no-one is righteous, no-one deserves God’s acceptance (Rom 3). But God has extended his unmerited favor to his humans, his acceptance of Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross. So now Jews and Gentiles are saved by placing their faith in what Jesus has done. Abraham has therefor indeed become the father of many nations: both of the Jews who have faith like him – and of the Gentiles who have faith like him. God justified the Gentiles who are still in the state of being uncircumcised, like Abraham also was (Rom 4). Jesus is the second Adam: through the first Adam came sin, separation from God and death. Through the second Adam (Jesus) comes justification, son-ship and life (Rom 5).
In order to be saved by grace, the Gentiles (and indeed all humans) must die to sin and must be born to a new life in Christ (Rom 6). This new life is a righteous life by the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. In order to be saved by grace, the Jews, on the other hand (and indeed all humans who trust in their own righteousness), must die to the law and to their attempts to gain righteousness. They must rather submit to the righteousness of God, which is undeserved and doesn’t depend on human effort at all (Rom 7).
This new life in Christ by the Spirit means redemption, adoption, freedom and glory – a state that will eventually come to the entire creation (Rom 8). Paul shows that in God’s immeasurable mercy his great plan of redemption has always been for Jews and Gentiles, so there is no reason for pride or exclusion, only for gratefulness and unity (Rom 9-11).
Paul then challenges them to live this new life in brotherly love, in mutual respect, in submission to one another, in preferring the other and in not judging another’s freedom. He asks them to not demand their right to freedom if it means a brother’s harm (Rom 12-15), but rather to ensure that the brother is not mislead by them to violate his conscience. Paul models this attitude of consideration in the way he has been speaking to the Roman believers all throughout this letter, and even in the way he greets people from both sides, with warm affection and praise.

The author and the Roman church
Paul writes the letter of Romans at the end of his third missionary journey (56 AD) from Corinth (Rom 15:25-27 parallel with 1 Cor 16:1-4). Paul has just been able to solve a heart rending conflict with the Corinthian church (described in 1 Cor and especially in 2 Cor). After many months of great tension and pressure his mind has been put at peace and he starts thinking about launching new pioneering work to the West. He feels that “now, with no further place for me in theses regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you when I go to Spain” (Rom 15:23-24).
Paul has never yet been in Rome, but some of his most trusted co-workers, a couple named Aquila and Priscilla, have come from Rome. They have worked with Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:1-3), have started the work in Ephesus (Rom 18:18-21, 25-26) that Paul later joins (Acts 19:1) and are now back in Rome, hosting a house church (Rom 16:3-4). Besides them, Paul knows twenty-four other Roman church members personally and greets them with name and warm praise. This shows the extensive travel that went on at that time and also the good communication the churches had with each other.
Paul is therefore not the founder of the Roman church. Also there is no direct evidence for Peter being its founder, as he was still busy working in Judea and the East at that time.
What is known from history is that as early as 49 AD a vibrant church exists in Rome. It’s founder is unknown, it may well have grown out of Roman Jews hearing the gospel at Pentecost, converting and eventually returning to Rome (Acts 2:10). As the church grows many Gentile converts join it.
As described in the case of many young churches in Acts, the church in Rome seems to have been agitated against by the local Jews, so much so that the Roman Emperor Claudius issues an edict commanding all Jews to leave Italy.
This edict is recorded by the Roman Historian Suetonius in his writing ‘De Vitae Caesarum’ when he writes about the life of Emperor Claudius. He says: “since the Jews were continually making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he (Claudius) expelled them from Rome.” It is quite clear that Claudius saw this agitating as an inner-Jewish conflict, which threatened the beloved ‘Roman peace’. At this time the Christian church is still seen as a sect of Judaism, as well it might. The edict was issued in 49 AD, resulting in all Jews, including Jewish believers, being forced to leave Rome. An example of this is Aquila and Priscilla that had to leave Rome and end up in Corinth with Paul (Acts 18:1-2).

What is left behind in Rome is an entirely Gentile Christian Church, which has to lead itself after the departure of the Jewish believers.

When Claudius dies in 54 AD, his edict is quickly forgotten and Jews, and among them Jewish believers as well, start drifting back to Rome. The Gentile church suddenly has Jewish members again.

This could easily lead to conflict, as the Gentile church would have dropped things like food rules and any adherence to Sabbath rest or Old Testament Law in general (as instructed in Acts 15:29 in consideration of the Jews).

Paul writes Romans to address the problem and hopefully reunite the church.

Jewish-Gentile Relationship in general
We see in the New Testament a general Jewish disdain for the Gentiles, as evidenced many times in the gospels and in Acts (Jhn 4:9, Acts 10:28, Acts 11:3). The Jewish daily prayer of thanksgiving: “Thank you that I am not a Gentile, a slave or a woman” expresses this attitude well and is countered by Paul in Gal 3:28. Jews, upon seeing a Gentile walking down the street, would often cross over the road. The Jews said “God loves Israel alone of all the nations of the earth” and “God will judge the Gentiles with one measure and the Jews with another”. “All Israelites will have part in the world to come”.
But equally the Romans disdained the Jews, calling Judaism a “barbarous superstition” and the Jews as “the most disgusting of races” and as “a most contemptible company of slaves”. Roman writer Plutarch thought that the Jews didn’t eat pork because they worshiped the pig as a god. The custom of observing the Sabbath was regarded as pure laziness. They accused the Jews of being atheists, because there was no image of worship they rallied around. The Romans also thought the Jews uncultivated, intolerant rebel rousers of the worst sort, unwilling to come under the ‘superior Roman law’ and constantly threatening the beloved ‘Roman peace’.
The sentiments within the church would definitely have not been this extreme, but – as we all know of the church today – the Roman believers probably couldn’t totally lay down these prejudices. In this way previously held cultural ideas carried over into the church.

When Paul hears about these conflicts, he decides to address them in this letter to the Romans. He carefully and specifically addresses both the Jews (Rom 2:17, 3:1, 3:9, 7:1) and the Gentiles (Rom 9:24, 11:13-14, 11:30), showing them that they are equal in Christ:

Overview of Romans

Chapter 1 Gentiles, and humans in general, deserve God’s wrath
Paul opens his letter by stating his apostolic authority, his thankfulness for the Roman believers’ faith and his intention to come to Rome and minister there.
He gives a powerful summary of the gospel upfront: ”For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16). The essential thing and the common ground for Jews and Gentiles is faith.
Paul starts his overall argument by showing that the Gentiles (and in fact all humans) are guilty before God and under his wrath. He argues that though they did not have the specific revelation of the Old Testament, they still had the general revelation of God in creation and human experience: ”For what can be knows about God is plain to them … Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse” (Rom 1:19-20). Humans are not judged for what they didn’t know, but for what they did know, – and all humans know something about God.
Humans that have some revelation of God but choose not to acknowledge God nor be thankful to him, find themselves in a downward progression: Their minds are darkened (Rom 1:21), they slip into idolatry (Rom 1:23-24) which leads to all kinds of godlessness and sin (Rom 1:26-32). Paul describes this downward progression as “God giving them up to their own desires” (Rom 1:24, 26), meaning that God never wanted this but, – having given free will to men –, eventually accepts their continued choice against conscience.

Chapter 2 Jews and those who judge equally deserve God’s wrath
The Jews – on the other hand – have received specific revelation from God: Abraham’s calling, God’s self-revelation as Savior in Egypt, the giving of the Law, the tabernacle, the priesthood and the sacrifices. Through Moses and the long line of prophets God has spoken to Israel. The Jews therefore have a clear advantage, as well as a temptation to pride and superiority. Paul argues that the Jews knew all this, but did not do any better than the Gentiles: Israel’s history is full of idolatry and injustice. Every individual Jew sinned and has committed himself what he judges others for doing. Paul sorely challenges Jewish pride: “If you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher… you, that teach others, will you not teach yourself?” (Rom 2:19-21). Paul reminds the Jews that God’s goodness to them should have lead them to repentance, not pride (Rom 2:4) and that circumcision itself has no value if they keep breaking the law. Therefore the Jews – for all their chosenness, revelation and history – are equally guilty and deserving of God’s wrath.

Chapter 3 All have sinned, all are saved by faith in God’s grace
Paul summarizes that no-one, neither Jew nor Gentile, is righteous before God. Nobody seeks God, all have become corrupt, sinful, even violent (Rom 3:9-18). So no one will be able to claim any right, merit or favor before God. None can boast, for none ever kept the Law. But God, in his mercy, opens up a new way: He sends Jesus, who – though sinless – takes into himself God’s justified wrath and dies on the cross according to the demand of law and justice. He thereby makes atonement possible for humans: by putting faith in Jesus, his righteousness is reckoned to us. We are thereby pardoned, saved and become what Jesus is: a son of God. This righteousness (being in right standing before God) cannot be earned or merited in any way. It is totally unrelated to the Law. It is the free gift of God in Christ to any human (Jew or Gentile) and can only be gratefully accepted (Rom 3:19-31).

Chapter 4 Jews and Gentiles justified by faith like Abraham
Paul brings up Abraham, the revered Patriarch of the Jewish nation and the one to whom the calling and promise originally were given (Gen 12:1-3). Paul shows that it was precisely trust in God’s faithfulness to bring about his promise that made Abraham acceptable in God’s eyes: ”Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Rom 4:3 quoting Gen 15:6). If any human, whether Jew or Gentile, puts his or her faith in Jesus’ atonement on the cross, they have therefore “faith like Abraham” and becomes a “son of Abraham”. In this way the promise to Abraham is fulfilled: through Jesus Abraham has indeed become the father of many nations. He has become the father both of the Jews who have faith like him – and of the Gentiles who have faith like him (Rom 9-12). Abraham is therefore not only the father of the circumcised (the Jews, Gen 17), but also of the uncircumcised (the Gentiles) for when God accepted Abraham for his faith he was still uncircumcised.

Chapter 5 The effects of justification
All those who have been thus justified by faith, have now peace with God and access to his grace. Even when they are experiencing suffering in this life they have the assurance that this cannot really hurt them; rather the suffering will lead to endurance, character and hope (Rom 5:1-5).
Paul goes back further than Abraham, all the way to Adam, the father of all humans. He explains a parallel between Adam and Christ: Through the one man Adam (the name ‘Adam’ simply means ‘human’) who sinned, sin, destruction, judgment and death came to all humans after him. In the same way through the one man Christ (whom he calls the “second Adam”), who obediently died on the cross, forgiveness, righteousness, restoration and life comes to all humans who put their faith in him (Rom 5:12-21).

Chapter 6 Gentiles and humans must die to sin
In order to be thus saved by grace, the Gentiles – and indeed all humans – must die to sin and be born to a new life in Christ. Paul shows that by faith a believer is “in Christ”, which means he also has been crucified with Christ and therefore has died with Christ to sin and the old, selfish life. Paul asserts that salvation must lead to a thorough change of lifestyle. Paul convincingly argues that whatever a person obeys, that is his master. So a human who sins, in fact invites sin and Satan to be his master. But a human who lives a different life obeys God, and in fact makes God his master. Salvation is therefore not just a ‘ticket to heaven’, a ‘blank cheque’ forgiveness of sin, it is a death and a new birth leading to a new life, which is no longer dominated by sin (Rom 6:1-14).
Rather, as humans being saved by grace, being in Christ and having the help of the Holy Spirit, they need to lead obedient lives, become “slaves of righteousness”, thankful, willing children of the Father (Rom 6:15-23).

Chapter 7 Jews and those trusting in their righteousness must die to the Law
Exactly parallel to chapter 6 Paul continues: In order to be saved by grace, the Jews – and indeed all humans who trust in their ability to be righteous – must die to the Law, must die to self-righteousness, to the attempt to earn their acceptance. Paul shows that by faith a believer is “in Christ”, which means he has been crucified with Christ and has therefore died with Christ to the Law. Paul argues convincingly that the Law only applies to people as long as they live, once they die the demands of the Law are cancelled: no one expects anything from a corpse nor does one hold a corpse accountable (Rom 7:1-6).
Receiving salvation is a reliance on the grace of God. Nothing about it is merited, deserved or due. Grace by definition means ‘unmerited favor’. A person therefore has to lay down all attempts at righteousness, all own efforts to be acceptable, all boasting, all claims, all self-righteousness. Paul describes the inner conflict of a morally aware person trying to do the right thing in their own strength (Rom 7:14-24) and concludes that is simply can’t be done: “Wretched man that I am!” (Rom 7:24). With a sigh of relief he gives the answer to the conflict: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:25).

Chapter 8 The new, obedient life by the Spirit
Paul then describes this new life by faith in Christ: it is a life lead by the Spirit, a life with no condemnation, a life of freedom, a life of willing submission to the Spirit’s guidance, a life of redemption, of adoption as sons, of honor as heirs, of glory. At every point the saved believer now can choose whom to yield to, his flesh or the Spirit. He can make himself the slave of sin or of righteousness, he can yield himself as an instrument to Satan or as an instrument of the Spirit at any given moment (Rom 8:1-17).
In an amazing passage Paul shows that this new, glorious state as the children of God will eventually be extended to become a far-reaching future redemption of the entire creation (Rom 8:17-25). Salvation has thus just begun its redeeming work – and will continue its redeeming work in a far more glorious way in the future.
Having received God’s love that lifted humans to this honored status as God’s children, all condemnation, all judgment, all fear must go. Both Jews and Gentiles equally receive this love and this honored status. Therefore condemning, judging and disqualifying each other must stop (Rom 8:31-39).

Chapter 9 God’s sovereignty and mercy – no Jewish pride
Paul shares his heart and love for his own nation, the Jews. He talks about his regret concerning the many Jews who reject Jesus (Rom 9:1-5). This raises the question: Why was Israel ever chosen? The answer in the Law of Moses is: for no merit of their own (Deu 7:7). Paul shows that it was in his sovereignty that he chose Abraham, and a generation later Isaac over his brother, and a generation later Jacob over Esau. We do not know God’s reasons, but we do know it was not for merit, rather for mercy. The calling of the Jews should have never lead to pride.
In these next few passages Paul uses very strong language, extreme statements and very big brush strokes. He says the Pharaoh of Egypt was raised up by God to reveal his power. Paul even says “God has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that he made for destruction” (Rom 9:22), a statement which alarms our sense of justice. It is good to remember that in Exodus it is only after Pharaoh’s repeated, wilful hardening of his own heart, only after repeated stubborn refusals to acknowledge God (against powerful evidence) does it say that God hardened his heart further. Paul says: “So it does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy” (Rom 9:16), showing that God is fully sovereign. No human has rightful claims on God, neither Jew nor Gentile. Yet God has chosen to grant salvation even to those who were ‘not his people’ (the Gentiles, Rom 9:19-29) whereas the Jews disqualified themselves by consistent refusal (Rom 9:30-31). Rather than accepting Jesus’ righteousness by faith, they sought to establish their own righteousness, probably from a false sense of superiority and pride in their calling (Rom 10:1-4).

Chapter 10 preach this gospel
After a powerful chapter on God’s sovereign will we would conclude that human choice doesn’t matter and that the gospel therefore doesn’t need to be preached. Paul says the opposite: People – Jews and Gentiles – are saved by faith. Faith is is believing with their hearts and confessing with their mouths. Therefore they must hear the gospel so that they do get their choice to have faith in response to God’s grace offered in Jesus – or not. Therefore even with all the sovereignty of God – it does matter what humans decide (Rom 10:5-17). The message of Jesus has come to the Jews but many have not responded: “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people” (Rom 10:21 quoting Isa 65:1-2). Paul is further slashing Jewish pride.

Chapter 11 grafted in – no gentile pride
But then Paul challenges the Gentiles not to think that God has rejected the Jews totally. There has always been a “remnant” of the faithful among the Jews (Rom 11:1-12). And now many Gentiles have come to faith “so as to make the Israel jealous”. That means: there is hope that the Jews will respond after all. Paul uses the picture of branches cut off from an olive tree (the unbelieving Jews), and wild branches being grafted in (Gentiles with faith). But he also challenges Gentile pride, reminding them that they stand only by faith, and that any Jew with faith will of course be ‘grafted back in’ gladly (Rom 11: 17-24).
Paul – after so considering the greatness of God’s plan of salvation and the mystery of the inclusion of the Gentiles – breaks out in praise of the sovereignty and mercy of God (Rom 11:33-36).

Chapter 12 Therefore be a living sacrifice and live in unity
In application of everything he said before, Paul challenges the Roman believers to give themselves totally to God as a “living sacrifice”, as those dead to self and obedient to God. He exhorts them to be transformed in their thinking, to no longer be influenced by the cultural background they are from (Jew or Gentile), but to think like Christ (Rom 12:1-2). He gives them a string of practical commands, basically a picture of being like Christ, with a focus on loving, respecting, forgiving and serving one another. In this way Paul wants to seal the unity of the church and ensure their continued growth (Rom 12:9-21).

Chapter 13-14 Submit to the government, love one another
Paul gives a positive view of government. He instructs the believers to submit to the government and obey its rightful claims. When addressing some practical questions like adherence to food laws and observance of special days, he especially challenges the Jewish believers not to judge their Gentile fellow-believers who may not keep any of these rules. As the same time he challenges the Gentile believers not to look down on the Jews but to rather be willing to forego their freedom if their behavior might be a stumbling block to a Jewish fellow believer. In this way Paul further mends the rift and encourages love and unity.

Chapter 15-16 Travel plans and greetings
Paul finishes the letter by stating his confidence in the Roman believers to overcome this conflict. He announces his visit and shares his heart for them and the unreached peoples in the West.
He then proceeds to greet many church members by name: He greets Jewish and Gentile believers (roughly 27% and 73% of the names mentioned), men and women (65% and 35% respectively), persons with Latin names and other names (46% and 54% respectively), and those with typical slave names and others (15% and 85% respectively). Paul in this way models the attitude he hopes to inspire in the Roman believers: an attitude of friendship, warm recommendation, praise for others and appreciation for each others’ contribution.

Introduction

• Romans has been called the “prince” of Paul’s letters
• Romans is described by various people as “undoubtedly the greatest”, “most systematic in form”, “weightiest in substance”, “no book in the world has been more carefully and diligently studied” (Cook), “the most profound work in existence” (Coleridge), “At every word, we feel ourselves face to face with the unfathomable” (Godet)
• Romans has greatly influenced Church Father Augustine of Hippo, John Wesley (Methodist Church), Carl Barth
• A comment by somebody: “we can always say this for consolation, that Paul wrote his message in the first place for average people rather than for theologians, and we may be sure that he did his best to make himself intelligible. He doubtless saw a great deal further into the things of God than most of us do, and there are many aspects of his vision that we, with our more limited gifts, may not be able to appreciate as fully as he himself did. But at least we can take our stand by his side, and we can look in the same direction; we can see the general lie of the land even if we miss the details; and as we try to follow his gaze, we can exclaim with an even greater degree of “raptured awe”: “What a fathomless wealth lies in the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable His judgements! How mysterious His methods!”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Who wrote?

• Ro 1:1 Paul, calling himself a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ (common self-description). He shares freely and personally with the Romans about his whereabouts, his travel plans, his eagerness to visit them, the reasons for the delay. He also knows very many Roman Christians already and greets by name. This suggests frequent travel.
• Ro 16:22 Tertius is the scribe.
• Ro 16:21, 23 Timothy, Lucius, Sosipater, Gaius, Erastus, Quartus send greetings
• Ro 16:1 Deaconess Phoebe of Cenchrea delivers the letter and is recommended to the Roman church.

Written to whom?

• Ro 1:7 all God’s beloved in Rome, called to be saints

When written? Where from?

• Ro 15:25-26 Achaia and Macedonia’s Donation to Jerusalem, then off to Rome and hopefully Spain.
• This fits very well with Acts 20:1-3, meeting with Ephesus elders in Miletus, Ac 21:1-17 arriving in Jerusalem.
• The Gaius who hosts Paul (Ro 1:23) could well be the Gaius of 1 Cor 1:14, an early convert in Corinth.
• Erastus as city treasurer > an inscription with his name was found in Corinth, a plaque about him laying the pavement for a road.

Historical Background

General Situation

• The Roman Empire had created an ideal situation for the spread of the Gospel: Pax Romana was a real thing from Britain to the Sahara, from the Euphrates to Gibraltar.
• Rome saw itself as the civilizer of the known world. Justice was enforced and the government was well administered. Rome stood for security, peace and ordered government. The military held back the hordes in the German forests and the Eastern deserts. The world was free to enjoy its happiness and prosperity.
• Nero is newly on the throne (54 AD), reigning since a year of two, barely 18 years old.
• Claudius’ edict is quickly forgotten and Jews drift back into Italy and Rome.
• Rome is a cosmopolitan melting pot, wealthy, great luxury, many slaves, increasing numbers of freedman. Corrupt.
• Spiritually: Mars (God of war, strength, victory), Venus (Goddess of love, seduction, sex, prostitutes) and a Pantheon of gods.

Jewish disdain for the Gentiles

• General history of this conflict: Jewish separateness (as mentioned Jn 4:9, Ac 10:28, Ac 11:3). Then first Gentile converts (Ac 10). Then many Gentile converts (Antioch, Ac 11:19-26). Then fruitful missionary journeys. The conflict over keeping of the law erupts in various places (Antioch, Galatia) and is resolved at the Jerusalem council (Ac 15).
• Jewish daily prayer of thanksgiving: ‘Thank you that I am not a Gentile, a slave or a woman”, which Paul counteres in Gal 3:28. Jews upon seeing a Gentile walking down the street would cross over the road. The Jews said “God loves Israel alone of all the nations of the earth” and “God will judge the Gentiles with one measure and the Jews with another”. “All Israelites will have part in the world to come”.
• Along side this it is important to note that the Jewish believers did not change from the Jewish rituals – see Acts 21.20 … how many believing Jews are zealous for the law. With this in mind we see why James in Acts 15:19-21 made provision for Jew-Gentile table fellowship.

Roman disdain for the Gentiles

• They regarded Judaism as a ‘barbarous superstition’ and the Jews as ‘the most disgusting of races,’ and as ‘a most contemptible company of slaves’.
• It was said that Jews had originally been a company of lepers who had been sent by the king of Egypt to work in sand quarries; and that Moses had rallied this band of leprous slaves and led them through the desert to Palestine.
• It was said that they abstained from swine’s flesh because the pig is specially liable to a skin disease called the itch, and it was that skin disease that the Jews had suffered from in Egypt. Plutarch thought the reason was that the Jews worshiped the pig as a god.
• The custom of observing the Sabbath was regarded as pure laziness.
• It was the odd fact that, unpopular as they were, the Jews had nonetheless received extraordinary privileges from the Roman government.
• They were allowed to transmit the temple tax every year to Jerusalem. This became so serious in Asia about the year 60 BC that the export of currency was forbidden and, according to the historians, no less than twenty tons of contraband gold was seized which the Jews had been about to despatch to Jerusalem.
• They were allowed, at least to some extent, to have their own courts and live according to their own laws. There is a decree issued by a governor called Lucius Antonius in Asia about the year 50 BC in which he wrote: ‘Our Jewish citizens came to me and informed me that they had their own private gathering, carried out according to their ancestral laws, and their own private place, where they settle their own affairs and deal with cases between each other. When they asked that this custom should be continued, I gave judgement that they should be allowed to retain this privilege.’ The Gentiles detested the spectacle of a race of people living as a kind of separate privileged group.
• The Roman government respected the Jewish observance of the Sabbath. It was laid down that the Jew could not be called to give evidence in a law court on the Sabbath. It was laid down that if special doles were being distributed to the populace and the distribution fell on the Sabbath, the Jews could claim their share on the following day.
• And – a specially sore point with the Gentiles – the Jews enjoyed “astrateia”, that is, exemption from conscription to the Roman army. This exemption was directly due to the fact that the Jewish strict observance of the Sabbath obviously made it impossible for him to carry out military duties on the Sabbath. It can easily be imagined with what resentment the rest of the world would look on this special exemption from a burdensome duty.
• The Jews were accused of atheism (being “atheotes”). The ancient world had great difficulty in conceiving of the possibility of a religion without any visible images of worship.
• They were accused of hatred of their fellow men and complete unsociability.

Issues in the church

• In the church there was a conflict as to how acceptable a Gentile was who did not first become a Jewish proselyte. The customs of Moses were real issues. It seems that this is what was at the heart of the Roman church and Paul’s concern in writing Romans.

History of the Church in Rome

The exact origin of the church in Rome is unknown. No record in Acts or elsewhere. Paul had no hand in it as his reference “not building on another man’s foundation” in Ro 15:20 shows.

• Ac 2 shows Jews from Rome in Jerusalem for the feast (Ro 2:10, ‘visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes’). Estimated Jewish population in Rome during this time was 20 to 30,000, worshiping in seven synagogues. Most probably some of these hearers at Pentecost went back and shared the good news with others > the church started off very Jewish.
• The Roman Catholic tradition that Peter started the church being there from AD 42 for 20-25 years has no real evidence in support of it: Peter is in prison in Jerusalem (Ac 12:1-2, 46 AD), in Antioch and Jerusalem (Gal 2:11, Ac 15, around 49 AD. If Peter was the leading the church, Paul would have been sure to greet him or mention him (Ro 16). 4th century Church Father Ambrosiaster says in his preface to his commentary on this Epistle that the Romans “had embraced the faith of Christ, albeit according to the Jewish rite, without any sign of mighty works or any of the apostles.”
• As evangelism occurs, the church has both Jews and Gentile believers.
• Emperor Claudius’ edict in 49 AD shows the presence of a church and the opposition of the Jews. Ac 18:2 mentions Aquila and Priscilla having to leave Italy and Rome. Suetonius (writing 70 years later) reports on Claudius: “since the Jews were continually making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he (Claudius) expelled them from Rome.” Chrestus is a variant spelling for Christus to describe a messianic controversy between Jews and Christians, as we find them all over Acts. The rights granted to the Jews in the Roman Empire were extended to the Church, that was seen as a sect of Judaism. Therefore when there was trouble with Jews, Claudius did not make distinction but simply expelled all Jews.
• This leaves behind an entirely Gentile church.
• The edict may have fallen into disrepute even earlier, but certainly with the death of Claudius in 54 AD it seems that the edict was no longer enforced and many Jews and Jewish Christians returned.
• The Jewish believers rejoin a church that probably by now has a distinct Gentile flavor, lead by Gentiles. This easily could have caused conflict.
• Paul with his letter in 56 AD addresses this issues.

Who is in the church?

The main answer: Jewish believers and Gentile believers. The church must have been quite large (1000 martyrs in 64-67 AD, Paul knows many, house churches)
Paul, though he has never been there, greets 26 people by name, indicating the frequency of travel at that age. Aquila and Priscilla are back.
Several times Paul says ‘and the church in their house’, suggesting the church being scattered around the city as house churches:

• Ro 16:4-5  Prisca and Aquila and the church in their house
• Ro 16:10    those of the family of Aristobulus
• Ro 16:11    those who belong to the family of Narcissus
• Ro 16:14   Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the brothers and sisters who are with them
• Ro 16:15   Philologus, Julia, Nereus, his sister, Olympus, and all the saints who are with them

Maybe this scattering aggravated the problem: Jews met in their groups (maybe in synagogues), and Gentiles also. Usually when Paul addresses his letters he says ‘to the church in xxx’ (like in 1 Co 1:2; 2 Co 1:1; Ga 1:2; 1 Th 1:1; 2 Th 1:1) but in Romans he addresses the letter to “all God’s beloved in Rome”, maybe indicating that there was no ‘one church’.

Paul when writing sometimes addresses the Jews or the Gentiles specifically, sometimes he addresses both

Addressing the Jews:

• Ro 2.17   But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law …
• Ro 3.1     Then what advantage has a Jew?
• Ro 3.9    What then, are Jews any better off?
• Ro 7.1     I am speaking to those who know the law …

Addressing the Gentiles:

• Ro 9.24       Even us whom he has called…..
• Ro 11.13-14 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles
• Ro 11.30     Just as you were once disobedient….

Strengths of the Roman church

• believing (Ro 1:8), numerous, probably evangelistic
• well-travelled, acquainted with Paul before every seeing him (Ro 16)
• a few years later 1000 are willing to die a martyr’s death (see Mark Background)
• knowledge, able to instruct one another (Ro 15:14)
• encouraging (Ro 1:12) and obedient (Ro 16:19)

Weaknesses of the Roman church

• Jew-Gentile tension, boasting, arrogance, disdain, pride, judging, unredeemed mind, still thinking in cultural patterns > disrespect, disunity

Literary Category

• Prose > literal interpretation. Quire a few quotes from OT poetry passages > figurative interpretation.

Structure

• Letter, Greek style with prolonged self-introduction and very detailed list of greetings

Composition

• Logic of the Argument (chapter 1-11)
• Question Answer (chapter 1-11)
• Problem > Solution
• Theology > Application two divisions
• Interchange talking to Jews, Gentiles

Main Topics

• Both Jews and Gentiles, were sinners, under God’s wrath, under the power of sin and death.
• Both Jews and Gentiles are not in Christ saved by grace, received mercy, are part of God’s plan, have Abraham as their father, are real Jews, are “in Christ”, part of new humanity, died to the law and sin, are alive to the Spirit, received sonship, inherit the promise, have same hope
• This is the basis for mutual love, service and unity. There is no ground for superiority in Christ.

Main Reasons

There are different views as to what Paul’s main reason for writing is:

A        Missionary Occasion, Paul stating theology and credentials

• Paul writes Romans to prepare them for his visit, so he could use the church as a base (as Antioch had been) for his missionary thrust out West to Spain, as he says in Ro 15:24 “and to be sped on my journey there by you”.
• Ac 19:21 describes Paul’s plans: visit churches in Macedonia, Achaia, go to Jerusalem, then to Rome. Paul had spent 10 years (AD 47-57) in intense evangelisation of the Aegean and Northern Mediterranean area and planted churches in many major Roman provinces, so he could say in Ro 15:18-19 “from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news”.
• Maybe the reason that Paul laid out his gospel so completely was so that he could introduce himself and his teaching, basically to state his credentials so the church would be encouraged to support him.
• Contra: If that is all his intention, it’s a massive overkill.
  • Also: It is not very likely that Paul would feel obliged to lay his gospel out for their inspection either. He had been preaching to the Gentiles for many years, he knew many people in the church, his gospel would have been well known.
  • Also All of Paul’s letters were written to address one or a few specific situations or problems.
  • All of Paul’s letter were written from a pastoral perspective, not from a theological one. Paul is a ‘task theologian’, with him the purpose of theology is to address a life situation. It is “applied” theology. Therefore better:

B       Addressing Disunity in the Church in Rome

• The letter of Romans is addressing a very concrete problem of unity in the Roman church, between Jews and Gentiles.

C       Friendship and Love for the People valid sub-point

• Ac 16:37 says that Paul was a Roman citizen but that (as far as we know) he had never visited Rome. In Romans he shares with them that he has often wanted to visit them for the following reasons:
  ◦ Ro 1:11    That he may impart some spiritual gift.
  ◦ Ro 1:12    That he may be encouraged by their faith.
  ◦ Ro 1:12   That they may be encouraged by his faith.
  ◦ Ro 1:13   That he may reap some harvest.
  ◦ Ro 1:15   That he may preach the Gospel in Rome.
  ◦ Ro 15:23 He had longed for many years to visit them.
  ◦ Ro 15:24 To be sped on his way to Spain by them.
  ◦ Ro 15:24 To enjoy their company a little.
  ◦ Ro 15:29 He would come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
• Paul says that the reaons for not visiting them before was because of the pressure of work in the Mediterranean / Aegean area of ministry (Ro 15:20-22, esp 22, Ro 1:13).

D       Prayer Request for his visit to Jerusalem valid sub-point

• In Ro 15:30-32 Paul shares his concern about his visit to Jerusalem. He explains that he first needs to finish the ‘Jerusalem offering’ project (2 Co 8-9), which will lead him to Judea and Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit was warning him of hard times ahead (Ac 20:22-23, 21:10-11), and the opposition of Jews to Paul was constant throughout his missionary work and would not be least in Jerusalem.

OVERVIEW OF ROMANS

TABLE

How Paul lays the basis for the unity of Jews and Gentiles in Romans

• Ro 1:5-6        The “obedience of faith” is for “all nations” which includes both Jews and Gentiles
• Ro 1, Ro 2:1-8 Both are under the power of sin, both  sinners before God.
• Ro 2:9-11      Both are under God’s wrath, will be judged by God.
• Ro 2:17-29   Both are true Jews.
• Ro 3:9           Both are under the power of sin.
• Ro 3:21-22   Both are subject to God’s way of righteousness.
• Ro 4:9           Both share a common blessing both are in Christ, part of a new humanity
• Ro 4:11-12, 16 Both share a common father – Abraham.
• Ro 4:13-16 Both are heirs of God’s promise.
• Ro 5:12-18 Both have a common humanity.
• Ro 6           Both have to die to something: The Gentiles to sin (Ro 6:2), the Jews to the law (ch 7)
• Ro 8:1      Both are alive to God in the Spirit.
• Ro 8:2     Both are free from the law of death.
• Ro 8.5     Both are called to live according to the Spirit.
• Ro 8:12   Both are debtors to God.
• Ro 8:12-16 Both have received Sonship.
• Ro 8:17   Both are heirs of God.
• Ro 8:23-24 Both have a common hope: wait for adoption as sons, redemption of their bodies
• Ro 9-11       Both are a part of God’s plan of salvation
• Ro 10:12-13 no distinction between them
• Ro 9:16       Both are dependent upon God’s mercy.
• Ro 9:23-24 Both are the recipients of God’s mercy … no room for Gentile conceit (Ro 11:25)
  Paul thus concludes:
• Ro 8.33     Who shall bring any charge against Gods elect?
• Ro 8.34    Who is to condemn them?
• Ro 8.35    Who shall separate (them) from the love of Christ?
• Ro 11:33-36 Doxology to the greatness of God

ROMANS – CHAPTER BY CHAPTER

Romans 1        Gentiles (and Humans in general) deserve God’s wrath

• Ro 1:1-6 Self-description as Paul as servant of Christ, set apart and called to be an apostle for the gospel, to bring about the obedience of faith among the Gentiles
• The gospel (promised before by the prophets in Scripture) is the message of Jesus, “who is the Son of David according to the flesh, declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit by resurrection from the dead”. Again resurrection is the proof and anchor of the extraordinary claim about Jesus.
• “Through Jesus we have received grace and apostleship” … not only acceptance, not only a ticket to heaven but salvation and calling, a being put to good and worthy work, receiving the blessing to be a blessing like Abraham (Ge 12:1-3).
• “To bring about the obedience of faith among the Gentiles” … not only justification but obedience, not only salvation but a changed life … We preach so one-sided: forgiveness > ticket to heaven, Paul is far broader in his understanding of the fullness of what salvation means.
• “for the sake of his name” … He is the reason for it all. Jesus as source and final goal. His honor is our prime motivation.
• Ro 1:7 “To all God’s beloved in Rome, those Gentiles who had faith and are called to belong to Christ, to be saints”.
• Ro 1:8-9 Thanksgiving for the Roman church, their faith which is proclaimed throughout the world, an encouragement to Paul and many.
• Ro 1:10-15 Paul expresses his long-standing desire and hope to see them, to reap some harvest among them (as among the rest of all the Gentiles), to strengthen them, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
  Paul’s calling to the Gentiles, to Greeks (developed) and Barbarians (undeveloped), the wise and the foolish.
  Theme of ‘all’. Barbarians? The Northern Europeans are the Barbarians, the uncivilized of the world. The word ‘Barbarian’ probably imitated the unintelligible sound of foreign languages (Tyndale Comm p 73). This reminds of Ge 12:1-2 where Abraham is promised to be a blessing to all nations or of Israel’s calling to be priestly nation (Ex 19:4-6).
• Ro 1:16-17 “not ashamed of the gospel” … Paul knows what he is doing and why he is doing it. He knows the value of his work… Do we? if we are ashamed, we have not yet understood what it is, how amazing it is, how far it reaches. Many struggle with this, being ashamed to witness. Sometimes it is also the pushy and superficial way of witnessing, that people are ashamed of, not the gospel itself.
• “which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek”. A clear sequence, but always it was meant for both. This is the basis for unity.
  In the Gospel the “righteousness of God” is revealed, we are given Jesus’ righteousness, and therefore made righteous. Righteousness means ‘right standing or relationship with God’. We receive this gift through faith: Hab 2:4.
• Some pointed out the three dimensions of the gospel:
  • God as Judge, who is concerned with true and false, with guilt or no guilt: Jesus is solving the problem of guilt. We are declared righteous by Jesus’s atoning death.
  • God as Father, the concern is relationship: Jesus is solving the problem of shame. We are adopted back into the family as son and heirs in Jesus.
  • God as Power, the concern is safety: Jesus solves the fear problem. We are freed by Jesus’ power from all evil.
• Ro 1:18-32 The wrath of God against all ungodliness. Why is all ungodliness thus judged by God? Why are all people held accountable, even those who didn’t have the law or revelation of God (Gentiles)?
• Ro 1:19-21 “For what can be known about God is plain to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him”. Through creation, through general understanding, through conscience all people know something about God. Creation, its beauty, functionality, power, vastness, etc. speaks of God. Illustration: becoming a father, this will teach a person multiple aspects about God.
• General understanding? this is the golden rule, don’t do what you would judge another for doing. Watching yourself react, conlcuding from that.
• Conscience? > God speaking through it in all human hearts.
• “So they are without excuse”. We did know. We could have known. If I wanted to heed it, I could have.
• Ro 1:20-23 The problem of humans is not lack of knowledge (what I should have done), but willful disobedience to it: “though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him”. ‘They became futile in their thinking … claiming to be wise they became fools” … “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie”… “they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind” … “they know God’s decree…yet they not only do them, but even applaud others”.
• This is the repeated theme of ‘will’: willful rejection of God, willful choosing deception, then being deceived. God is not withholding understanding, or pushing them into sin, rather he is trying to speak with them, trying to prevent evil, holding them back but eventually ‘giving them up’ to their own will. C.S. Lewis puts it this way: “You can either serve in heaven or rule in hell”. And “In the end there will be only two kinds of people: those who say to God ‘thy will be done’ and those to whom God says ‘thy will be done’.
• There is also a repeated theme ‘mind > behavior’. First humans become futile, then their actions become evil. Corruption starts not with the body, it starts with the mind and heart. Our problem is not that we have a body, our problem is that we have rejected truth and chosen sin in our hearts. The way we think, believe and choose will eventually manifest itself in outward action. So in the end: by the fruit you can know the tree.
• This passage also shows the importance of thankfulness! It is lack of acknowledging God and lack of gratefulness that is the beginning of the downward spiral. Do be grateful! Acknowledge people! Acknowledge services rendered! We think thankfulness as an optional ‘nice to have’ thing. The Bible calls it an absolutely essential must-have.
• The pathway described is to not acknowledge God, to not be thankful, this results in darkenened minds, leading to idolatry, and among other things wrong forms of sexuality. Sexuality here serves as an example of sin, not as an example of ‘sin’, ‘worse sin’ or ‘ultimate sin’. There are many forms of wrong sexuality, for example adultery, rape, kidnapping, and many more things.
• Ro 1:29-32 This view is supported by the way Paul continues: a list of sins which is far more extended, though definitely also not exhaustive (there are things not mentioned here that are forbidden in the law).
• List of sins every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, gossip, slander, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless … and proud of it.
• Some of these are classic ‘big sins’, but others we would not think so ‘tragic’. Careful with thinking of sin in ways that are more influenced by current culture than God’s word. For example the believers in the Middle ages thought taking interest on loans immoral, now nobody is worried about that. Or currently the church screams against homosexuality but has nothing to say against adultery and causing divorce.
• Who does this address? > definitely the Gentiles, those who did not have specific revelation, yet know God to a degree anyway. But really looking at Jewish history, Israel became guilty of many sins on this ‘Gentile’ list, idolatry not the least. So the list is meant to break the excuse of the Gentiles “I didn’t know” but it also means to convict all humans, Jews included.
• So in summary of Romans 1: God called Paul to be an apostle of the gospel to all, God’s great gospel is for all who have faith. All had at least a measure of revelation, against which they acted, so they are all guilty (with a special focus on Gentiles).

Romans 2               Jews (and all who judge) also deserve God’s wrath

• Ro 2:1-4 “You have no excuse, whoever you are” … addressing anyone who judges (including the Jews, who are looking down on the Gentiles): whoever judges acknowledges the standard, and declares himself guilty when breaking it. Jesus teaches the same: “Judge not, or you will be judged” (Mt 7:1-2, Lu 6:37). Jesus also calls this the golden rule: the behavior I want to get, I need to give. Or said more negatively: what I will call unjust if somebody does it to me, that behavior I am not allowed to do to others.
  This also means there is judgment without explicit law, because we acknowledge that law anyway. But even more so this applies to Jews, who quote a specific law code.
• Ro 2:4 “Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience?” … If I resent God’s grace towards others, I cut myself off from that same grace to me. Living off and at the same time resenting grace (Jonah’s sin). Do not be merciless!
• Ro 2:4b “Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” … In our preaching we more trust fear and threats to achieve repentance, and to a degree we are ‘successful’. But we create believers resentful of a God who sets them up for failure, threatens them and then ‘saves them’. Paul says it is God’s goodness that will make people change. Looking at Jesus’ behavior is the gospels, there is same strong message: Jesus’ acceptance, grace and love wins people.
• Ro 2:5 “But by your hard and impenitent heart you store up warth for yourself” … Again a sore warning to not judge (hard heart), to not think myself above it (impenitent heart).
• Ro 2:6-11 Warning of God’s righteous judgement “for the Jew first and also the Greek” … for those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immorality he will give eternal life … for those who are self-seeking, obey not truth but wickedness, everyone who does evil > anguish and distress’ … this is a warning to all but especially the Jews to not be too sure of your righteousness.
• Ro 2:12-13 Assurance of God’s judgment: All who have sinned apart for the law (Gentiles) will also perish apart from the law, all who have sinned under the law (Jews) will be judged by the law. Only those who obey the law (‘doers’) will stand – and no one has.
• Ro 2:14-16 “Gentiles instinctively do what the law required … law written on their hearts … conscience bears witness”. Similar to Ro 1:20: even if they have no knowledge of Old Testament law, Gentiles have a sense of right and wrong, a sense of justice, a conscience, against which they have sinned. There is no ‘innocence’ really. All people have some revelation. According to that God judges.
• Ro 2:17-24 A scathing and convicting passage to shake up the Jews: “if you call yourself a Jew … relay on the law and boast of your relation to God … sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children … having the law truth … will you not teach yourself? Dishonor God by breaking the law? … Quote: “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you”. The closest match is Is 52:5 though a bit different. Paul is attacking false security and false pride.
• Ro 2:25-27 More severe biting: no false security in circumcision for the Jews: Circumcision yet breaking the law won’t do. Jews who break the law will be considered ‘circumcised’. Gentiles who keep the law will be considered ‘circumcised’.
• Ro 2:28 True circumcision is inwardly, not external or physical … there is no security or salvation in race, ceremony, tradition, social adherence. As always with God: it is entirely a matter of the heart. Which also shows the justice of God: he will not judge us for something we didn’t know or weren’t born into or can’t do anything about it. Unlike society which constantly judges you for that.
• Ro 2:11 God indeed shows no partiality. God indeed is just, even in his wrath. Don’t fear the concept of God’s wrath, he is not arbitrary, nor willful, nor vengeful. His wrath is a needed end to sin, evil and injustice.
• Summary of Romans 2: Those who were passing judgment on the Gentiles will receive their own judgment because of their own sin. So: don’t pass judgment – you do the same things – it is the heart, and good over evil actions that matter to God.
• Even Gentiles can keep the law in heart while those under law don’t . If you Jews know so much about the law and teach it – teach yourselves – live the law don’t just brag about it
• True circumcision or a true Jew is a Jew inwardly – keeping God’s will from the heart – praise not from men but God

Romans 3           What advantage has the Jew? Some.

• Ro 3:1-8 Logic of the Argument: Paul now answers a question that will naturally arise at this point: If there is no difference after all between Jews and Gentiles, then why did God ever call Abraham (Ge 12), institute the covenant (Ge 17, Ex 19), give the Law (Ex 20ff) and has his history with the nation of Israel?
• Ro 3:2 Paul states that the Jews did have an advantage: they had the Word of God. The fact that they were unfaithful to it doesn’t reduce the value of that gift.
• Ro 3:3-8 Paul goes into some question answer: basically pre-emptying flippant comments. The emphatic ‘by no means!’ expresses his very strong disagreement with what he just said or quoted others to say. As Bible students dont’ cut up the text, don’t quote out of context! Don’t miss where he quotes others (similar to 1 Corinthians).
• Ro 3:8 Paul mentions a slander against him: that he preaches cheap grace, where I can do anything I want.
• Ro 3:9-18 Medley of Old Testament Scriptures to make the point: all are sinners, none is righteous.
• Ro 3:19-20 He concludes about the Jews that since they had the law, they knew what was forbidden, they still did it knowingly and are so proven guilty.
• Ro 3:21-27 The repeated expression ‘righteousness of God’. What does he say about it? ‘it was attested by the law and the prophets … nobody has it … it comes through faith in Christ only’. What does this mean? It means right standing before God. It is what Jesus had (as only human), and what he has now bestowed unto us: his rigteousness unto us.
• Ro 3:27 No one merits it. No one can claim it. No boasting is possible.
• Ro 3:28-31 Continued Logic of the Argument or Question-Answer: It is given apart form the law, not by works of the law. There is no difference for Jews or Gentiles, both are given it by faith and faith only.
• Ro 3:31 If righteousness is given apart form the Law, does this then mean that the law has no meaning? Paul negates: “By no means!”
• Summary of Romans 3: Jews have the advantage of specific revelation of God but the Jews could not gain righteousness through the law, and did not get extra points with God merely because they were Jewish. None are righteous on their own strength, neither Jews nor Gentiles.

Romans 4                    All are justified by faith like Abraham

• Ro 4:1-8 Romans chapter 4 is roughly parallel to Galatians 3. “What then are we to say was gained by Abraham?” He is quoting Ge 15:6 “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as rightousness”. Paul argues that this was not due him, but granted him, not wages (due, merit, earned, right to receive) but grace given by God for those who have faith (unmerited favor), quoting Ps 32:1-2 “blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin”.
• Ro 4:9-12 For whom is this grace, blessedness or righteousness? > To the circumcised. Paul answers (parallel to Gal) that this righteousness was bestowed (Ge 15:6) on him before circumcision was instituted as a sign of the existing covenant (Ge 17). Abraham is thus the Father or all who believe, both of Gentiles who have faith as uncircumcised people like Abraham had, and of the circumcised bloodline Jews, who have faith like him. Jews prided themselves in being descendants of Abraham, Paul in a stroke extends this to all Gentiles who have faith. A very elegant argument. You cannot teach like this, unless you have deeply digested the truths > we need to by study, meditation and application strengthen our understanding of God’s truths!
• Ro 4:13-15 Again: Abraham did not receive the promise to inherit the world or be a blessing to all nations after circumcision but before (Ge 12:1-3). All who have faith like him are counted sons, descendants, heirs, those on whom the promise rests.
• Ro 4:16-25 “It all depends on faith, so that the promise may rest on grace … and Abraham believed”, against all natural signs (age, barrenness, contrary evidence) that God would do just what he said.
• Through faith Jews and Gentiles thus have a common father, a common calling, a common promise, a common blessing, a common inheritance … and it all is made possible through Jesus’ grace.
• Summary of Romans 4: Abraham was reckoned righteous through his faith, and all who have faith are also reckoned righteous – true children of Abraham – so both Jews and Gentiles can be partakers in the promise, through Christ.
• Have the kind of faith that Abraham did – a persevering and strong faith – a deepening faith in Christ rather than trying to attain something through legalistic works.

Romans 5                 The effects of Justification

• Ro 5:1-5 Justification (= righteousness bestowed on us by grace, come into right standing with God) results in peace with God, access to him and his grace, to the hope of sharing his glory. Now even suffering must work for the believer, resulting in > endurance > character > sure hope, with God’s love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
• This is the promise: everything, even weakness, even past sin, even other’s injustice towards us can be redeemed if we take it to and with God. This sequence is real, hard and effective. Endurance cannot be learned other than in situations that require endurance. Suffering produces character. Suffering is God’s handle on our lives. My testimony.
• Ro 5:6-11 Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners, excluding any thought of merit or deserving. All is through Christ, for Christ, because of Christ.
  Justification means receiving assurance of salvation from God’s wrath (where Paul started his argument), reconciliation and his life. Jews and Gentiles have a common humanity, common sin, common guilt, common judgment, common reconciliation. To trust in nothing, to take hope from nothing, to take security, identity, satisfaction from nothing else but God.
• Ro 5:12-12 Comparing Adam and Christ:
  • we were ‘in Adam’                we are ‘in Christ’
  • who sinned                           who  died on the cross for us
  • trespass                                grace
  • judgment, condemnation   made righteous, justification
  • death reigned                      (eternal) life reigns
  • all died                                  life abounds for many
  • disobedience                       act of righteousness
• Ro 5:14 Adam is a type of Christ, a prophetic picture (though very different) of Jesus. Jesus is the ‘second Adam’. Jesus is the real human, how he should have been.
• He is the obedient Son, the true heir, th one led by the Spirit. Jesus doesn’t only die for us, he shows us how to live!
• Summary Romans 5: As humans realize what Christ has done for them in justification they rejoice, thankful for justification by faith. Sin came for all through Adam, life comes through Christ – and through him to all who chose it through faith.
• As sin increased so grace increased – grace enough to cover.

Romans 6                  Gentiles (and all humans): Die to sin!

• Ro 6 and 7: In order to trust only in Jesus, to have faith only in him, to be whole-hearted followers of Christ both the Jews and the Gentiles have to each let go of something: the Jews need to die to the Law (Ro 7) and the Gentiles need ot die to sin (Ro 6). The dying to sin – of course – also applies to Jews:
• Ro 6:1-4 Paul raises the next question, following logically: Does grace mean nothing matters? Anything goes? We can continue sinning because grace is freely available? Paul answers by a resounding ‘No!’. This was surely what circumcision preachers accused Paul of: cheap grace, quick salvation, no conditions, easy deal. And so it would sound. But accepting grace is actually not that easy, as we all know. And even harder it is to accept God giving grace to others.
• By being ‘in Christ’ we are in Him when he died on the cross (> we die with him to sin) … we are ‘in Christ’ when he is buried (> baptism into death) … we are ‘in Christ’ when he is raised from the dead (> raised to a new life). We only need to be ‘in Him’, then all that is true for Christ is transferred to us and becomes true for us.
• Ro 6:5-7 Paul expands on this: what was crucified with Christ on the cross is ‘our old self’, ‘the body of self’, the sinful nature, the human bend to pride, selfishness, sin … it was crucified, destroyed … and so we are no longer enslaved to sin.
• Ro 6:8-11 Again: assurance that just as we died ‘in Christ’, we will also live ‘in Christ’. To live again, resurrection, new eternal life means de facto that death has lost its dominion or power.
• Salvation is not only a ticket to heaven, it is a total tranformation of life, starting now and continuing and growing into all eternity.
• Ro 6:12-14 Now therefore, saved, and under grace: Do not let sin exercise dominion … do not present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness … but present yourselves to God as instruments of righteousness.
  With salvation, the indwelling of Jesus and the Spirit comes a new freedom, to live this life differently. I now have the power at any given moment to decide who I will yield to, who I will obey, who I will let run my body. Before – in a sense – I had no choice, now I do.
• Ro 6:15-19 Freedom to choose … and importance of what I choose. Paul raises the question: should I sin because I am no loger under the law?
• No, for I am the slave of whatever I obey. What I obey is my master. To choose sin, to become slaves of sin means to re-instate Satan as lordship over me.
  Luther’s metaphor: A man is like a horse, it is either ridden by God, or by Satan, but it is ridden by someone.
• So what should I do? … yield or present your members as slaves of righteousness. Put myself under God, listen to Jesus in my heart, be guided by the Holy Spirit, yield to his promptings, obey his will.
  ‘Yield’ means to give priority to, to let God have his way, to respond to the Spirit.
• Ro 6:20-23 Sin leads to unrighteousness, impurity, slavery, death (‘the wages of sin are death’) but now we are ‘freed from sin and enslaved to God’, which leads to life (‘the free gift of God is eternal life’).
• Now I have a choice, but the choice is crucial.
• Summary of Romans 6: Since we have the great grace of God should we keep living in sin to prove God’s grace? No! Sin is slavery – leading to death. Righteousness is slavery to God — leading to eternal life

Chapter 7                    Jews (and those relying on their own effort): Die to the Law!

• Ro 7 Now addressing the Jews, though legalistic tendencies are also found among Gentiles.
• Ro 7:1-3 We have not only died to sin, we have died to the law. Paul’s illustration of a married woman, bound to her husband till death, but not beyond. The law only applies till death.
  On a sidenote: this is why Christianity knows no widow burning (‘Shottidaho’), rather marriages ‘until death parts us’. This is why remarriage is an entirely moral thing to do for a widower or widow.
• Ro 7:4-6 So when the believer has ‘in Christ’ died on the cross, he also has died to the Law, the law has no longer any demands on him. Laws and accountability do not apply to corpses. We do not judge corpses.
• ‘You have died … that you may belong to another, to him show has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God’ … we are saved unto something, saved into a relationship, into belonging to God … and this will result in an obedient, fruitful life: ‘We are slaves not under the old written code, but in the new life of the Spirit’. The new life is one of being in sync with the Holy Spirit, fully alive, and doing nothing that hinders or destroys life (=sin).
• Ro 7:7-11 Since we are freed from the Law, Paul raises the question as to what the role of the Law then was and is? For God did not give it without purpose.
  Through the Law we knew sin, knew what is not right, saw our own state, saw our need of repentance. Through the Law comes a temptation to over step the Law, because of our sinful nature. Through the Law I am judged to a death penalty for my sin. In that sense the law killed me.
• Ro 7:12-13 The law is holy, just and good. It was given by God and fulfills important function, but because of my sin I come in conflict with it.
  Illustration: dirty person coming into the light, the light (law) reveals his state, but is not able to clean the person up. Illustration: Doctor’s diagnosis, the diagnosis of a disease (law) helps to know what treatment is needed, but it doesn not in itself cure the disease. Illustration: Road sign. The road sign (law) shows me where to go, but it doesn’t take me there.
• Ro 7:14-25 Paul describes the inner conflict with myself after knowing what is right, after knowing the Law: I understand its goodness and the rightness of its claim, but my sinful nature will not let me obey it.
• Whose conflict is this? Those who reject conscience have no conflict like this, they have deadened their conscience, it no longer bites them. Those who have taken the Law as an opportunity to prove their self-righteousness, their pride has exempted them from this struggle. So this describes the conflict of the ‘good Jew’, the moral person, the one who acknowledges God, his holiness, his law, the justice of what’s being asked, … and wants to do the right thing, but is hopelessly trapped by his own sinful nature. As believers we understand this conflict very well.
• Ro 7:24-25 Paul basically says this battle can’t be won: “wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?’ … This sinful nature of mine?”
  What is the solution? “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” … only in Christ do I get the freedom of sin, the freedom of law, the indwelling Christ and the help of the Holy Spirit so I can actually choose.
• Summary of Romans 7:  Paul shows that on a believer the law is no longer binding because a death has occurred – a believer has died in Christ and been resurrected – and is therefore free from the law because the death has freed him or her.
  A believer has died to the law but live to God who will help them to bear fruit for Him. Paul shows the law’s inability to remove sin from his heart or flesh, only Jesus can deliver him from sin.

Romans 8                   Both Jew and Gentile: Live by the Spirit

• Ro 8:1 Paul in summary of chapter 6 (dying to sin) and chapter 7 (dying to the law) says: ‘There is therfore now no codemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. We are herewith un-condemnable. Therefore do not condemn others. Do not dondemn yourself. Sometimes self-condemnation masks as humility, people holding on to condemnation even after repentance (I will never forgive myself for his!). This actually is a pride: who are you to condemn yourself after Jesus himself has declared you free? Get with truth! Do not wallow in misery. Agree with God.
• Ro 8:2 “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set you free from the law of sin and death” … we are free.
• Ro 8:3 “For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh, could not” … the attempt to obey the law, with whatever effort or commitment cannot produce righteousness, rather it tends to produce legalism, self-righteousness, rigidity, comparison, pretension, jealousy, … see also Galatians. Put no trust in your own ability to ‘make it work’, you won’t, and nobody claims you should be able to.
• Ro 8:4 “By sending his own Son … to deal with sin … so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us”. Our condemnation, judgment and sentence was according to the law and justified: death. But Jesus took it onto himself, was judged with a death sentence in our stead, and thus fulfilled the demand of the law for us. This has got to be one of the clearest statements of the atonement of Christ, the basis for much our our witnessing.
• Ro 8:5-8 We now are free, free to ‘set our minds’ either again on the flesh, or on the Spirit, with consequences accordingly. Before we couldn’t really do this, but now we can (forgiven, Jesus in our heart, the Spirit’s leading). So ‘set your mind’, which is an act of the will, it is submission to God, pleasing God.
• Ro 8:9-11 “You are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit … Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you”. Assurance. Hope. Respond to the Spirit.
• Ro 8:12-17 “We are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh … by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God … Not a Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption … cry Abba Father … if children then heirs.”
  Paul almost trips over himself showing the meaning and richness of this new life under God. Don’t read this as conditions you don’t fulfill. Read it as what I think Paul meant: overwhelmed by God’s goodness, amazed at the greatness of what he wants for us, thankful and willing.
• Ro 8:18-25 Present sufferings (of a life obedient to the Spirit) are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. Paul unfolds a vision of the amazing future God has planned for us, a total redemption of the entire creation.
• Ro 8:26-27 The Spirit helping us in our wekness, in our prayers.
• Ro 8:28 “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”. God is the Redeemer, of everything. Creation, human history, the human heart. Everything will be turned around, everything must work together for good, everything will be turned into gold: sin, guilt, shame, injustice committed against us, limitations and weaknesses, everything. Backgrounds, whether Jewish or Gentile.
• Ro 8:29-30 called, foreknown, predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, justified, glorified.
• Ro 8:31-39 “If God is for us, who is against us?” … Jew, if God is for the Gentiles, who are you to exclude. Gentile, if God is for the Jew, who are you to disagree?
• In summary Both Jews and Gentiles are free from condemnation, from sin, from the law. Both need to set their minds on the Spirit. Both are debtors to God, not the flesh. Both have the Spirit, sonship, heir status. Both have a common promise and hope of redemption. Do not condemn! Do not bring a charge against God’s elect! Do not assert that anyone is cut off from the love of Christ. Do not disqualify those of other denominations, organizations, … Do not look down. Maintain relationships.
• Summary: All have sinned and nobody can do anything in their own flesh to help themselves. God can has done everything to help them – to help them into the life of the Spirit, to help them to defeat sin. Nothing can separate them from His love and His power to help them – nothing can separate them from the love of God which motivates Him to help them to walk according to the Spirit, and which will be fully revealed in the future which is their hope.

Romans 9           God’s Sovereignty and mercy – No room for Jewish pride

• Ro 9:1-5 Paul shares the heart and love he has for his own nation, his regret and desperation at the many Jews who reject Jesus. He laments that the Jews received so much: ‘to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises, the patriarchs, the line of the Messiah’. This is the fuller answer to his question in Ro 3:1 ‘What advantage has the Jew?’
• Maybe he answers those who think he has left the Jewish faith, rejected his own heritage and has completely ‘gone over’ and become a Gentile. Maybe somewhat like Josephus Flavius, who ended up declaring the Roman Emperor Vespasian the Messiah.
• Grieving for your own nation, a feeling many can relate to. Do not despise, but yes, do grieve. It’s easy to say that there is no point in doing that and inwardly detach to reduce the tension. But I think to live with this tension is part of our very job description: to be pained by what could be but is not. Those who have no hope do not have tension.
• Example: Switzerland, a country that has had a strong reformation, godly law, accountable government, leading to great stability and prosperity, but now doesn’t acknowledge God now.
• Ro 9-11 Introduction: The following passages are contentious (Ro 9-11). Paul says quite extreme things. If you cut any sentence of these out of the context you can end up with pretty far-out theology. If you cut any sentence of these out of the context, you can show that Paul contradicts himself. But Paul doesn’t contradict himself. So why then does he say ‘extreme stuff’, like Ro 9:22 “God has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that he made for destruction” … Or: like Ro 11:7 “Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking”. First of all this cannot mean all Israel, for many Jews do believe, including Paul. And second of all most of their history the Jews precisely did not seek God as Paul also stated a little bit earlier (Ro 10:21).
• How then do we need to read these passages? > not with a legalistic approach, but with a big mind. Do not gather extreme theology from this passage, but learn from it how Paul uses language, now he employs pictorial language, paints big pictures and dramatically retells Israel’s history with broad brush strokes. If you don’t understand, step back and look at the total picture. Do not interpret anything to mean something other than Paul’s normal teaching in all other letters. Watch how he balances things out in the end, for example after giving quite extreme statements about God’s sovereign choice and predestination, he follows up by a plea to evangelize: “How are they to believe in one of whom they have not heard?” … We would say: if it all depends on God’s choice, then it doesn’t depend on human choice. Predestination makes evangelism unnecessary. Wrong.
• Ro 9:6-18 The question arises: Why was Israel ever chosen? The answer already in the Law is: for no merit of their own: De 7:7 “It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you – for you were the fewest on of all peoples”.
• God sovereignly chose Abraham, actually he keeps choosing sovereignly: Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, … the Messianic line can only be through one family which automatically means all the others will not be in it. We do not know his reasons, and if we knew the reasons, they wouldn’t leave any room for pride (C.S.Lewis).
• He chooses Pharaoh to show his power – yes, but please remember that only after Pharaoh’s repeated, willful hardening of his own heart, only after repeated stubborn refusals to acknowledge the obvious after much evidence is given, only then does God harden his heart and set him up for further and total failure.
• The most important verse in this passage is Ro 9:16: “So it does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy”. Paul shows that no human can stand before the sovereign God and earn or claim anything. Our salvation is pure mercy from God’s side, no boasting is possible. Yes, God chose Israel, but the Jews can’t boast about being chosen, for it has nothing to with their merit.
• Ro 9:19-30 Here Paul uses extremes to make his point: God is fully sovereign. No human has rightful claims on him in any way. But he ends up with two quotes, showing that God grants salvation even to those he didn’t choose, those who are ‘not his people’ (Ro 9:25-26 = Hosea 2:23 / Hosea 1:10). Yes, Jews, you were chosen by mercy (which you didn’t deserve) but now God’s mercy also goes to the Gentiles, which you have no right to resent.
• Ro 9:30-31 The Jews disqualified themselves, not by lack of eagerness but by relying on own works and not on faith in the Messiah, the Corner stone from God (Ro 9:33 = Isaiah 28:16). By this Scripture Jesus challenged the hostile Jews that were soon going to crucify him (Mk 12). When it comes to salvation, there is no bargaining, just a grateful submission to the pathway God offers: ‘There is no other name (or way) by which we will be saved …” (Acts 4:12).
• Ro 10: 1-4 The exact same thing in different words: The Jews had zeal, but they are seeking to establish their own righteousness, probably from a false superiority and pride in their chosenness, and did not submit to God’s righteousness – Jesus. This is also a warning to the Jews to not ‘think like that again’, to resist the temptation to racial pride at all costs, to understand that this same trap is still operative in their fellow Jew-Jews.
• With God, there is no bargaining. To think you have something to bargain with is already a form of pride. Humility knows I have no right, no merit, no chance and to gratefully accept the one way God has opened in Jesus.
• Summary: Israel is not saved because they have not turned to Christ through faith but tried to rely on works of the law. We are children of promise reckoned as descendants – through faith. God called the Jews – chose them for a special purpose (not special value) to reveal His glory to all, which God can accomplish by their exemplary righteousness or by judging their wickedness. If Jews do not repent, they may miss this revelation.

Romans 10              Preach the Gospel

• Ro 10:5-13 How are we getting saved? The resounding answer is: by faith, by believing with our heart and confessing with our mouths. Paul here didn’t add ‘leading to a changed life’ which has lead us to focus only on the ‘sinner’s prayer’ and the ‘confession of faith’. Which of course is good, but it needs to lead to something. This has lead to our current theology of ‘just pray the sinner’s prayer’ and you have your ticket to heaven’.
• Ro 10:14-17 The famous: “how can they believe in one of whom they haven’t heard? How can they hear without somebody to proclaim it? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?”
  This is Paul’s plea for serious evangelism, mission and outreach, to Jews and to Gentiles, which was probably dampened by frictions and superiority thinking. Do not let extreme theology deter you from the basic commands of the gospel. If I take an extreme view on God’s predestination (God has sovereignly chosen those few whom he will save), it will paralyze evangelism and missions. If I have racial pride it will hinder me from reaching out to others. If I have extreme views on chosenness (Israel is saved simply by being Israel) I will not try to reach them for Christ, or I will think all other nations of less importance.
• Ro 10:18-21 Paul says that God reached out to the Jews, but not all are willing: “All day long I have held out my hands to a discobedient and contrary peple” (Ro 10:21 = Isaiah 65:1-2). Not exactly a reason for racial pride. Paul further humbles the Jews.
• Summary: We were saved by faith alone – not works of the law. Jews have misguided zeal – missing Christ – pursuing righteousness through law, disobedient to God’s righteousness. All who call on name of the Lord are saved – thus -> important to preach so they can hear and believe. The Jews did hear it and rejected it.

Romans 11        The Gentiles are grafted in – no room for Gentile pride

• Ro 11:1-6 But then he also challenges the Gentiles: do not think that God has rejected the Jews. He quotes Elijah, who thinks he is ‘the only one left’, a thought we also often have. God corrects him: there are seven thousand left that have not bowed to Baal (1 Kin 19:14-18).
• This is the concept of a ‘remnant’, common already in the Old Testament, now also in the New Testament: Even if a majority rejects God’s truth, a minority will respond. Here with the Jews: A majority has rejected Jesus, but many Jews have become believers. Our job is not ensuring or enforcing 100% conversion. Our job is to be a witness, to share, reach out, to offer, to disciple the believers, to serve all. We are to ensure people have a choice, but we are to respect people’s choice
• Ro 11:7-10 Paul does a broad brush stroke retelling of human history: Yes, right now a majority of Jews failed to respond to the gospel, failed to recognize the Messiah. The gospel has gone our to the Gentiles and many responded, ‘so as to make the Israel jealous’, meaning with the hope they will respond also (Ro 11:11-12).
• Ro 11:13-16 Paul is challenging the Gentiles to have a real desire and faith for the Jews to return and acknowledge Christ. Paul is broad and dramatic: “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead!”
• Now if you look at this technically, none of this is strictly true: it wasn’t God rejecting the Jews, but rather them not responding. And of course many Jews also responded, not least Paul. And of course not all Gentiles responded to the gospel either, so not all humans are really reconciled. In the same way the re-acceptance of the Jews will not be ‘every Jew’, but a hope that in the future many, many will respond.
• Again: don’t read a verse like that overly technically, you will miss the meaning – yet Paul’s dramatic retelling of human history achieves to paint a powerful picture: to see the long arm of God and his passionate commitment to save as many on all sides as He can.
• Ro 11:17-44 Paul uses a picture of an olive tree (meaning true religion), some branches cut off (unwilling Jews), some branches grafted in (faith-filled Gentiles). Paul challenges Gentile pride: it was grace that grafted Gentiles in. If the Gentiles reject faith they will equally be cut off. If the Jews turn to Jesus, they will of course be grafted in. In other words: race doesn’t matter at all, only the individual’s heart response to the truth revealed in Jesus.
• Ro 11:25-32 Paul challenges the Gentiles to not be over-smart. He tells them a “mystery”: “a hardening has come on part of Israel until the full number of Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved … they are beloved for the sake of their ancestors; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” How are we to understand “all Israel”?
  • Some say: This means in the end all Jews will receive salvation. But this interpretation creates trouble: all Jews then are saved? Or all Jews retro-spectively? Will all have faith? Or are they saved by their genes? That would stand in grave conflict with Jesus and Paul’s normal teaching.
  • Some say: the “so” shows that “all Israel” means ‘all the true Israel’, the sons of Abraham by faith of Jewish or Gentile background.
  • Some say: “all Israel” does refer to Jews, but those who had faith, those circumcised in heart, their full number.
• How about “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable”? I think they are irrevocable in the sense that God doesn’t take them back. But we can disqualify ourselves from our calling by disobedience. Example: Judas Iscariot.
• Again: don’t interpret a difficult passage in contradiction with other plain teaching of Paul. Paul never said that race was the basis of salvation. There is no partiality with God.
  Paul has been building a crescendo to exalt the utter mercy of God, and his final salvo is this: that the Jews, even after misrepresenting God to the Gentiles, after refusing to be a blessing, after refusing to acknowledge the Messiah, they are still welcome: if they repent there is no hindrance from God’s side.
• Ro 11:33-36 Doxology … Paul breaks into praise at God’s mercy, at his stubborn to commitment to save maning, at his utter acceptance of all who will believe.
• Summary: There is a faithful remnant – God has not rejected His people, there are some who believe. The Jews rejected it so the Word went to the Gentiles – how much more good would come if the Jews believed? This is in hope Gentiles coming in will make Jews jealous – jealous enough to believe. Gentiles mustn’t be proud but rather to seek to see the Jews receive or accept God’s grace through faith in Christ.

Concluding thoughts:

• Predestination versus human choice: Is it all ‘set by God’ and depends on him alone, or is it human choice? Theologians have struggled with this over centuries. Election versus human decision. Calvinism versus Pelagianism.
• One illustration: Door of salvation, on one side written ‘choosing to make Jesus Lord’, on the other side ‘chosen from before the foundations of the earth’.
  Does God choose? Do we choose? My best short summary is: God has chosen to give us choice, and he will in all his sovereignty respect that choice.

Romans 12              Therefore: Be a living sacrifice!

• Ro 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore” … This “therefore” refers to the entire first division, the entire argument so far: If Jews and Gentiles are both sinners and both saved by grace, if God’s mercies for humans are so amazing then > “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, which is your spiritual worship”. Bodies means not only minds and hearts, but our entire lives, here an now, as ‘instruments of righteousness’ as Ro 6:12-13.
• “Sacrifice” means holy, set apart, blameless, wholly given, no claim to own life any more, actually sacrifices are dead!
• “Spiritual” is the Greek word ‘logikos’ meaning logical, reasonable, rational, intelligent, appropriate … as the Spirit would indicate.
• Ro 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good, and acceptable and perfect.”
  Jews and Gentiles would both be influenced in their view of each other by their upbringing and common prejudice. Paul challenges them to rise above this. We must submit our cultural thinking, reasoning, judging to the gospel. This is mandatory and we need to be ruthless with ourselves about it. Otherwise the gospel will never transform the culture. Example: Prevailing corruption also in the church. Family nepotism. Steep hierarchies. Jealousy.
• The command is one to the mind, to think in a different way. World again means the usual self-serving way of thinking that scoffs at self-sacrifice.
• What does it mean to transform your mind? Renew your mind? > to agree with God’s view, to understand his principle, way and will in a given situation, to obey it not because I have to but because I see its intrinsic value.
  Some teach that this refers to three different ‘wills of God’: there is the acceptable will of God, the good will of God and the perfect will of God. I don’t think this is a sound interpretation, and it not supported by any other teaching passage and also raises many questions. If something is only accaptable but not perfect, how then is it the will of God?
• Ro 12:3 To think healthily is to not “think of yourself more highly than you should, to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned”. This is parallel to Ro 12:2.
• Ro 12:4-8 The ‘body and member\ illustration is parallel to 1 Co 12: prophecy in proportion to faith, ministry in ministring, the teacher in teaching, the exhorter in exhortation, the giver in generosity, the leaders in diligence, the compassionate in cheerfulness.
• Paul after having powerfully laid the theological foundation for unity, not is working to apply it practically: Jews and Gentiles, you are one body with essential and contributing organs. Don’t cut up the body, not false independence, no falso self-promotion (cancer). Serve one another with your giftings.
• “Leader in diligence”? We would not have put that together. Diligence means to work hard, to be committed, to do what it takes, to follow up. “the compassionate in cheefulness”? We would have said in empathy, not sure, more thinking needed here.
• Ro 12:9-21 “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 Love one another with mutual affection, outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in Spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, 16 live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, associate with the lowly, do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God. It is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord (De 32:35). 20 No, if your enemies are hungry, feed them, if they are thirsty give them somthing to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on their heads (Pr 25:21-22). 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’
  Paul lays the foundation for good and healthy relationships in the church and examplary living as a witness to others. Jews and Gentiles, loving each other, honoring each other, forgiving each other, taking care of each other, …
  What a list! Each command takes a lifetime to apply! Each one was modelled to us by Jesus. Loren’s book: Winning God’s way. Living in the opposite spirit > powerful witness.
• Two possible interpretations of the “heap burninng coals on their heads” (Pr 25:21-22):
  • that doing good will trigger the other’s conscience and conviction. 
  • that in a setting before matches maintaining a fire was crucial. Only very good friends would share burning coals.
• Summary: Be a living sacrifice – give life and lifestyle to God for His glory. Don’t be proud – realize you are not better than your brother – now help each other. Treat each other with love and using your gifts to build each other up.  Treat enemies with love, live peaceably, leave revenge to God – in this way good triumphs over evil.

Romans 13          Obey the government! Love one another!

• Ro 13:1-7 Paul gives a Biblical view of Government, an essentially positive view of Government. Though it’s the year 56 AD and since two years Nero is on the throne, it still is an essentially positive view.

Some principles:

• Government is an authority, an institution that is needed, that God wants (Ge 9:6), that is God-ordained (Ro 13:1-2, Ge 9:6, De 19-18). Paul calls Government officials “God’s servants” (Ro 13:4).
• Government receives authority from the people it rules (De 1:9-15), but ultimately from God (Ro 13:1, Jn 19:11, Da 2:21).
• Government must therefore be obeyed (Ro 13:1, Tit 3:10, many more).
• One cannot claim that believers are only accountable to God and do not have to obey Government.
• Government’s function is just judgement (De 1:9-18), maintaining lawfulness, for stopping the evil, letting the normal people live in peace (Ro 13:3-4).
• Government has the right to demand civil obedience of its citizens, to impose a measure of tax (Ro 13:6, Mk 12:17), but not to demand worship (Mk 12:17).
• Government is of God as an institution, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that God wanted a certain coup or leader.
• Government is of God as an institution, but that doesn’t mean all that Government officials do is godly.
• Yet any government is better than no government (anarchy). Anarchy is more brutal than tyranny.
• But what if the government is not a threat to the evil, but to the good? When is civil disobedience justified? Or even needed? Examples of commended civil disobedience in the Bible:
  • Ex 1:17 Israelite midwives disobeying Pharaoh’s command to kill children at birth
  • Dan 3 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego disobeing Nebuchadnezzar’s command to worship the golden statue
  • Dan 6 Daniel disobeying Darius’ command to not pray to anyone but the king
  • Act 4:18ff Peter and John disobeying the Jewish Sanhedrin’s command to not preach
• When is civil disobedience indicated? When Government is asking for something that is morally wrong. Many of the mentioned persons did not turn into rebels upon being challenged by evil governments, but accepted the punishments meted out.

• Ro 13:8-10 “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law”. Paul is reminding the Jews, that the law is not abolished, but fulfilled by a believer living according to Jesus and the Spirit. To put faith in Jesus and in result to love one another accomplishes what the law couldn’t do (Ro 8:2).
• Ro 13:11-14 Urgent appeal to live in the light as “the day’ is near”. Paul maybe challenging the Gentiles especially, that a changed life with ‘no provision for the flesh’ is a needed result of faith. Paul here refers to Jesus’ second coming as ‘salvation’. Remember Titus 2:11-14: Salvation means justification (before), sanctification (now) and glorification (in the future).

Romans 14:1-15:13              Do not judge! Do not despise!

• Ro 14:1-12 Do not judge one another – this is a command to the ‘weak’, the lawful, the careful, the lawful Jews
• Ro 14:13-23 Do not make another stumble – this is a command to the ‘strong’, the free, the ‘don’t care Gentiles
  Repeated commands to prevent despising and judging within the church:
• Ro 14:3,15:7  Don’t despise, God has welcomed both
• Ro 14:4,12     Don’t judge each other. Only Jesus can judge his servant, we will all be judged by God
• Ro 14:6          Do all to honour and give thanks to God
• Ro 14:13        Don’t hinder or make brother stumble
• Ro 14:15        Walk in love
• Ro 14:19        Pursue peace and mutual upbuilding
• Ro 14:20,23 Don’t use faith to destroy brother
• Ro 15:1-2      Strong to bear with weak, not please themselves
• Ro 15:2         Edify others
• Ro 15:8        Become servants, like Jesus
• Ro 14:1-4    Eating food … preventing conflict
• Ro 14:5-6   Observing special days
• Ro 14:7-12 Challenge to not pass judgment (to Jews), challenge to no despise (to Gentiles). The motivation is: “for God welcomed him” (Ro 14:3), for “we all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Ro 14:10), “each give an account of oneself to God” (Ro 14:12), “a brother for whom Christ died” (Ro 14:15)
• Ro 15:1-6      Building each other up, living in harmony with one another. … building unity
• Ro 15:7-13   Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you, both Jew and Gentile.
• Ro 15:14-21 Paul’s confidence that they will do well. Christ’s accomplishment through Paul (gospel till Illyricum), not building on someone else’s foundation but to those who have never heard (apostle’s gifting)
• Ro 15:22-29     Paul’s plan to visit Rome and continue to Spain … preparing for the visit
• Ro 15:30-33    Paul’s request for prayer for safety from unbelievers in Judeah.

Romans 16              People greeted

• Even in Paul’s conclusions and personal greetings, the theme of Jew-Gentile unity continues:
• Ro 15:25 The collection for the saints. The Gentiles made a contribution to the poor Jews in Jerusalem
• Ro 15:27 Gentiles share in spiritual blessings, Jews share in material blessings
• Ro 16:3 Gentile churches give thanks for Prisca and Aquila, Paul (a Jew) gives thanks for them
• Ro 16:26 Old Testament prophets (Jews) made mystery known to all nations (Gentiles) – served Jews and Gentiles

People mentioned in the Roman church:

• Phoebe: Ro 16:1-2 “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the siants, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well”.
  Female. Greek name. Recommendation letter for Phoebe, who probably delivered the letter to the Romans. She is a deacon or leader in the Cenchreae. She is a benefactor of many, including Paul, a strong word of one powerful to help. Paul fully endorses her and gives her a blanco cheque … and tells the Romans to welcome, honor, help her.
• Prisca and Aquila: Ro 16:3-5 “who work with me in Christ Jesus and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles”. 49 AD they are forced to live Rome and Italy (Acts 18:2), because at least Aquila is a Jew from Pontus, his name is Latin meaning ‘eagle’ though. Prisca or Priscilla is a Latin name, she may be a Jew as well, or possibly Italian. In 50-51 AD they meet Paul, live with and cowork with Paul in Corinth in ministry and in tent making (Acts 18:1-11).In 52 AD they are left by Paul in Ephesus to start the work there. They find and disciple Apollos further, and teach him ‘the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26). In 55 AD they are still in Ephesus with a church in their house (1 Cor. 16:19). In 56 AD they are back to Rome, again there is a church in their house. Paul commends them highly. The reference to them risking their necks could be a referral to Paul’s 2 ½ years in Ephesus, which according to 2 Cor 1:8 was very difficult and dangerous for Paul. Maybe at that time they risked their necks for Paul. In 64 AD they are back in Ephesus (?) and Paul sends them greetings in 2 Tim. 4:19.
• Epaenetus: Ro 16:5 who was “the first conver in Asia for Christ”. He is a male. Latin name. Maybe a 3rd Missionary Journey convert and therefore especially dear to Paul? Nothing else is known about him.
• Mary: Ro 16:6 “who has worked hard among you”. She is a female. Common name. Jewish (?). Nothing else known.
• Andronicus and Junia: Ro 16:7 “my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was”. Junia is a female name. Most likely this was a  husband and wife team. Both are called apostles, even prominent or outstanding among the apostles. They are Jews. They were early converts (30-34 AD), before Paul. They minstered with Paul and shared one of his many imprisonments.
• Ampliatus: Ro 16:8 “my beloved in the Lord”. This is a male name. Latin name. Nothing else known. Common slave name. In the commentary of Domatilla, which is the earliest of the Christian catacombs, there is a decorated tomb with a single name Ampliatus. Because it was a single name this tells us he was a slave. The fact that his tomb was decorated shows he was of high rank in the church, truly distinctions were wiped out in the early church.
• Urbanus: Ro 16:9 “our co-worker in Christ”. Male, Latin name. Common slave name. Nothing else known.
• Stachys: Ro 16:9 “my beloved”. Male, Greek name meaning ‘corn’ or ‘ear’. Nothing else known.
• Apelles: Ro 16:10 “who is approved or tested or tried in Christ”. Male. Greek name. Nothing else known.
• Those of Aristobulus: Ro 16:10 “greet those of Aristobulus”. This could refer to his family or household, but typically it is used of housechurchs. Christian tradition: he was one of the seventy disciples and preached in Britain. There ia a granson of Herod the Great by the name of Aristobulus. He was known to be a quiet person and did not get any of Herod’s land. But there is no proof for him being this Aristobulus.
• Herodion: Ro 16:11 “Greet my relative Herodion”.Male. A Jewish Christian in Rome. Nothing else known.
• Those of Narcissus: Ro 16:11 “Greet those in the Lord of Narcissus”. Again a family, household, or more likely house church. Those in the Lord may infer that not everybody was a believer, which would speak fore for household. Male. Latin name. Common name. Nothing else known. There was a Narcissus who was a secretary to Emperor Claudius. He amassed fabulous wealth by being the man to control which letters reached the Emperor Claudius. Nero compelled Narcissus to commit suicide to get his wealth. If this is the name Narcissus, this may be addressing his slaves and servants.
• Tryphaena and Tryphosa: Ro 16:12 “those workers in the Lord”. Female. Latin names. Possibly sisters. Possibly fellow deaconesses. Nothing else known.
• Persis: Ro 16:12 “the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord”. Female. Greek name. Paul commends her ministry or work in the Lord. Nothing else known.
• Rufus: Ro 16:13 “chosen or eminent in the Lord”.Male. Latin name. Originally from Cyrene, Province of Lybia, North Africa. Probably Jewish since father Simon is in Jerusalme at the Passover feast. In Mk 15:21 Mark references Simon of Cyrene, who bore Jesus’ cross, by his two sons named Alexander and Rufus. Mark writes his gospel to Rome and uses them, known in Rome, as reference for the identily of Simon of Cyrene.
• Rufus’ mother: Ro 16:13 “greet his mother – a mother to me also”. Female. Probably of Cyrene. Probably Jewish. Had personal relations with Paul, maybe hosted him or co-worked with him. There is a suggestion that Simon of Cyrene, her husband, can be identified with Simeon called Niger (meaning black) in Acts 13:1 as leader of the church in Antioch. If so Paul would have known this family and co-worked with them for about a year at least. Maybe later they moved to Rome.
• Asyncritus: Ro 16:14. Male. Greek name. Possibly a home church leader? Nothing else known.
• Phlegon: Ro 16:14. Male. Greek name. Possibly a home church leader? Nothing else known.
• Hermes: Ro 16:14. Male. Greek name. Possibly a home church leader? Nothing else known.
• Patrobus: Ro 16:14. Male. Greek name. Possibly a home church leader? Nothing else known.
• Hermas: Ro 16:14. Male. Greek name. Possibly a home church leader? Nothing else known.
• Brethren: Ro 16:14 “who are with them”.
• Philologus: Ro 16:15 Male. Greek name. Nothing else known.
• Julia: Ro 16:15. Female. Latin name. Married to Philologus? one family with Nereus? Nothing else known.
• Nereus: Ro 16:15. Male. Latin name.
• Nereus’ sister Ro 16:15. Female. Nothing else known.
• Olympas: Ro 16:15 Male (?). Home church leader? Nothing else known.
• Saints: Ro 16:15 Possibly a home church, lead by any of these persons? this family?
• Timothy: Ro 16:21. Currently with Paul in Corinth in 56 AD on the 3rd missonary journey. Long-term fellow worker of Paul.
• Lucius: Ro 16:21 “my relative”. Male. Latin name. A Jew. A Lucius of Cyrene (Lybia, North Africa) was one of those praying with Paul and Barnabas in Antioch when they were set apart for the 1st missionary journey in Acts 13:1. This may or may not be the same person. With Paul in Corinth in 56 AD sending greetings to the Roman church. Nothing else known.
• Jason: Ro 16:21 “my relative”. Male. Greek name. A Jew. A Jason is mentioned in Acts 17:5 as hosting Paul and his team in Thessolonica. His house was attacked by mobs incited by Jews and he was dragged before the city authorities. This may or may not be the same person. With Paul in Corinth in 56 AD sending greetings to the Roman church. Nothing else known.
• Sosipater: Ro 16:21 “my relative”. Male. Greek name. A Jew. With Paul in Corinth in 56 AD sending greetings to the Roman church. Nothing else known.
• Tertius: Ro 16:22 “I, Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you”. Male. Latin name. Paul’s scribe in Corinth in 56 AD sending greetings to the Roman church. Some think this referrs to Silas, as Shalish in Hebrew means ‘third’ and Tertius is ‘third’ in Latin.
• Gaius: Ro 16:23 host to Paul and to the whole church. Male. Latin name. 1 Cor. 1:14 tells us that there is an early convert called Gaius in Corinth that Paul baptised. Host to the whole church implies a degree of leadership in the church, of a house church, or possibly accommodating the main church. With Paul in Corinth in 56 AD sending greetings to the Roman church. Nothing else known. Other references to people called Gaius that seem to match less with this Gaius are: a Macedonian named Gaius is a coworker of Paul in Ephesus during the 3rd missionary journey in Acts 19:29, a Gaius from Derbe is mentioned as a coworker of Paul in Acts 20:4, also 3rd missionary journey, and an elder Gaius (presumably of Asia Minor) is the recipient of John’s third letter in 3 John 1).
• Erastus: Ro 16:23 “city treasurer”. Male. Not very common name. He was the City Treasurer of Corinth. An inscription on a pavement about a city treasurer (aedile) in Corinth has been found. With Paul in Corinth in 56 AD sending greetings to the Roman church. Nothing else is known. Other references to people called Erastus is a helper of Paul in Epheuss in Acts 19:22 and an Erastus mentioned to have stayed in Corinth in 2 Tim. 4:20. These are less likely to be the same person.
• Quartus: Ro 16:23 “brother”. Male. Latin name. Possibly a believer in Corinth. With Paul in Corinth in 56 AD sending greetings to the Roman church. Nothing else known.

Demographics with the names of the Roman church

Male       17 persons (65%), of which 5 are praised (29% of males)
Female   9 persons  (35%), of which 7 are praised (78% of females)

Latin names roughly      12 persons (46%)
Other names roughly     14 persons (54%)

Ethnic Jews roughly        7 persons (27%)
Ethnic Gentile roughly   19 persons (73%)

names appearing in Emperor’s palace records   13 persons (50%)
names not appearing in palace records                13 persons (50%)

if assumed that Urbanus, Stachys, Apelles, Ampliatus were common slave names:
slaves minimum       4 persons (15%), in reality likely far higher
free maximum        22 persons (85%), in reality likely far lower

Possibly 7 home church groups:

1.  Prisca & Aquila
2. one around Mary, Andronicus & Junia, Ephenaetus …
3. those of ARistobulus
4. those of Narcissus
5. one around Trypnaena, Tryphosa, Persis, Rufus, his mother
6. Asyncritus and group
7. one around Philologus, Julia, Nereus, sister, Olympas